Electrochemical synthesis of mesoporous FePO 4 nanoparticles for fabricating high performance LiFePO 4/C cathode materials

Abstract

Unique amorphous FePO 4 with particle size ranging from 20 to 80 nm has been successfully synthesized by a new cost-effective electrochemical method. This FePO 4 possesses a mesoporous structure with specific surface area of 65.2 m 2 g −1 and dominant pore diameter of 23.6 nm. The basic formation mechanism has been discussed. These amorphous mesoporous FePO 4 nanoparticles can be used as precursors to prepare LiFePO 4/C nanocrystals with porous structure. The obtained LiFePO 4/C cathode materials exhibit excellent cycling performances. At a 0.5 C rate, the discharge capability is above 140.0 mA h g −1 and the capacity retention rate is higher than 98% after 50 cycles. The microstructural and electrochemical analyses reveal that these amorphous mesoporous FePO 4 nanoparticles are the perfect precursors to prepare LiFePO 4/C composite. Furthermore, this facile, cost-effective and green electrochemical strategy can be easily scaled up for commercialization, and also could open avenues towards synthesizing other mesoporous phosphate materials.