Control of the LiFePO4 electrochemical properties using low-cost iron precursor in a melt process

LiFePO4 was prepared from low-cost iron ore concentrate (containing 4.48 wt.% SiO2 and MgO, CaO and Al2O3 below 0.5 wt.% as contaminant) using a melt synthesis. X-ray diffraction (XRD) refinement associated with Mossbauer spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) analyses are used to track the location of Si in the material. It is shown that the iron content in the melt can be used as a means to control the doping rate of elements from iron ore concentrate (IOC) precursor according to the formula (Li1 - z A (z) )(Fe1 - y M (y) )(P1 - x Si (x) )O-4. Electrochemical behavior of the material is affected by the doping of LiFePO4. While capacity is decreased in doped material, the cycling stability is much improved. When dopants are out of LiFePO4 structure, capacity retention dramatically drops as well as capacity due to the gravimetric impact of impurity phases. A trade-off between high capacity and best cycling performance is necessary. For instance, slight lack of iron in the melt (6 % deficiency) leads to a capacity only 2 % lower than that of pure Fe2O3-based material for the same stoichiometry and fairly good capacity retention.