Solvothermal synthesis of monodisperse micro-nanostructure starfish-like porous LiFePO4 as cathode material for lithium-ion batteries

A novel micro-nanostructured starfish-like LiFePO4/C with an open mesoporous structure is successfully synthesized via a solvothermal route with triethylamine. The structure and morphology of the samples are examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM). The electrochemical performance of the samples is characterized by charge-discharge tests and cyclic voltammetric (CV) measurement. The results show that the as-synthesized LiFePO4/C sample exhibits a monodisperse starfish-like morphology with a particle size of around 10 mu m, open mesoporous structure with average pore diameters of 3.0 nm and high tap density of 1.34 g cm(-3). Although the particles size is large upto micron scale, the sample displays excellent electrochemical performance due to its open mesoporous structure which is beneficial to the Li+ diffusion and electron transportation. Besides, it exhibits a specific capacity of 157.5 mAh g(-1) at 1 C, even the discharge rate increases to 20 C, it still exhibits a high initial discharge capacity of 86.7 mAh g(-1). (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.