Effect of Fe and Zn co-doping on LiCoPO4 cathode materials for High-Voltage Lithium-Ion batteries

Abstract

Lithium cobalt phosphate (LiCoPO4) has great potential to be developed as a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its structural stability and higher voltage platform with a high theoretical energy density. However, the relatively low diffusion of lithium ions still needs to be improved. In this work, Fe and Zn co-doped LiCoPO4: LiCo0.9-xFe0.1ZnxPO4/C is utilized to enhance the battery performance of LiCoPO4. The electrochemical properties of LiCo0.85Fe0.1Zn0.05PO4/C demonstrated an initial capacity of 118 mAh/g, with 93.4 % capacity retention at 1C after 100 cycles, and a good capacity of 87 mAh/g remained under a high current density of 10C. In addition, the diffusion rate of Li ions was investigated, proving the improvement of the materials with doping. The impedance results also showed a smaller resistance of the doped materials. Furthermore, operando X-ray diffraction displayed a good reversibility of the structural transformation, corresponding to cycling stability. This work provided studies of both the electrochemical properties and structural transformation of Fe and Zn co-doped LiCoPO4, which showed that 10 % Fe and 5 % Zn co-doping enhanced the electrochemical performance of LiCoPO4 as a cathode material in LIBs.