Preparation of Nanoscale Iron (III) Phosphate by Using Ferro-Phosphorus as Raw Material

Abstract

The battery grade precursor FePO4 was synthesized by precipitation method. Ferro-phosphorus was used as the iron source and the phosphorus source. The prepared nanoscale iron(III) phosphate were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), galvanostatic thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), and fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra test. Also, the influence of different pH values on the performance of iron phosphate crystals was studied. The experimental results show that the prepared FePO4·2H2O under the experimental conditions is amorphous iron phosphate. And the prepared FePO4 had high crystallinity, uniform particle dispersion, and good morphology. No impurity elements are produced in the preparation process, the purity of product is high, and the process route is energy saving and environmental protection. The iron and phosphorus content test shows that the iron content of the sample was 36.84%, the phosphorus content was 20.99%, and the molar ratio of iron to phosphorus was 0.973, which meets the requirement of battery grade FePO4 precursor.