High-rate and ultralong cycle-life LiFePO4 nanocrystals coated by boron-doped carbon as positive electrode for lithium-ion batteries

An evolutionary modification approach, boron-doped carbon coating, has been used to improve the electrochemical performances of positive electrodes for lithium-ion batteries, and demonstrates apparent and significant modification effects. In this study, the boron-doped carbon coating is firstly adopted and used to decorate the performance of LiFePO4. The obtained composite exhibits a unique core-shell structure with an average diameter of 140 nm and a 4 nm thick boron-doped carbon shell that uniformly encapsulates the core. Owing to the boron element which could induce high amount of defects in the carbon, the electronic conductivity of LiFePO4 is greatly ameliorated. Thus, the boron-doped composite shows superior rate capability and cycle stability than the undoped sample. For instance, the reversible specific capacity of LiFePO4@B-0.4-C can reach 164.1 mAh g(-1) at 0.1C, which is approximately 96.5% of the theoretical capacity (170 mAh g(-1)). Even at high rate of 10C, it still shows a high specific capacity of 126.8 mAh g(-1) and can be maintained at 124.5 mAh g(-1) after 100 cycles with capacity retention ratio of about 98.2%. This outstanding Li-storage property enable the present design strategy to open up the possibility of fabricating the LiFePO4@B-C composite for high-performance lithium-ion batteries. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.