Liquid-phase preparation and electrochemical property of LiFePO₄/C nanowires

Abstract

Olivine LiFePO₄/C nanowires have been successfully synthesized by a simple and eco-friendly solution preparation. The phase, structure, morphology and composition of the as-prepared products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric and differential-thermogravimetric analysis (TG-DTA) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) techniques, showing uniform nanowire shape of LiFePO₄/C with a diameter of 80–150 nm and a length of several microns. The heat-treated LiFePO₄/C nanowires show excellent electrochemical properties of specific discharge capacity, rate capacity and cycling stability. In particular, the LiFePO₄/C nanowires heat-treated at 400 °C show preferable first discharge specific capacity of 161 mA·h/g at 0.1C rate, while the voltage platform is 3.4 V and the first discharge specific capacity is 93 mA·h/g at 20C rate. The specific capacity retention is 98% after 50 cycles at 5C rate.

Keywords

liquid-phase preparation / LiFePO₄ / nanowires / electrochemical property

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