A Simple Hydrothermal Process Based on FePO₄•2H₂O to Synthesize Spherical LiFePO₄/C Cathode Material

Abstract

LiFePO4/C cathode material with particle size of 5~6 μm and tap density of 1.67 g•cm-3 was prepared based on spherical crystal FePO4•2H2O powders. The spherical crystal FePO4•2H2O powders were first prepared by a simple hydrothermal synthesis via the amorphous FePO4•2H2O solution maintained at 150°C for 12 h without any supplementary equipment. The produced LiFePO4/C powders exhibited the initial discharge capacity of 137 and 118 mAh•g-1 at 0.1 C and 0.5 C, respectively. The volumetric capacity of the spherical LiFePO4/C powders corresponded to 230 and 197 mAh•cm-3, which are remarkably higher than irregularity powders. The high-density spherical LiFePO4/C powders produced by this novel method can be considered as a very promising candidate in the high-power batteries.