One-pot Synthesis of LiFePO4 Nano-particles Entrapped in Mesoporous Melamine-Formaldehyde Matrix as the Promising Cathode Materials for the Next Generation Lithium Ion Batteries

Abstract

Abstract LiFePO4 is considered as the promising cathode material for a large-scale Li batteries used in electrical vehicles (EVs). However, a practical use of LiFePO4 cathode is limited by its low ionic conductivity, resulting in low battery’s power performance. In this work, a facile approach to promote ionic conductivity and capacity of LiFePO4 was developed by dispersing LiFePO4 nanoparticle into a porous nitrogen-riched carbon matrix, facilitated by practical one-pot synthesis The N-containing carbon porous matrix was prepared by utilizing pluronic F127 as the porous template and melamine-formaldehyde (MF) resin as the N-containing carbon precusor. The pseudocapacitive effect attributed from lone-pair electrons into melamine functional group was expected to support Li ion transport. Carbonization at 600 °C could provide uniform LiFePO4 composites cluster with an average size of about 100-200 nm. The influence of the pluronic F127 concentration (i.e. 0:1, 0.03:1, 0.3:1, F127:MF molar ratio) on the LiFePO4 nanocomposite’s morphology and crystalline structure was investigated by using scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction technique. Increasing the concentrations of pluronic F127 can support more porous structure formation, leading to a higher surface area, while sustain the nanocrystalline structure of LiFePO4. The result of a specific capacity is 158.1 mAh g-1, at a rate of 0.1 C was achieved for a Swagelok-type cell battery prepared from our LiFePO4 nano-composite.