Morphology regulation of nano LiMn0.9Fe0.1PO4 by solvothermal synthesis for lithium ion batteries

A facile synthesis of nano-LiMn0.9Fe0.1PO4 particles is attempted by a solvothermal process with ethylene glycol (EG) as solvent. The particle morphology, including plate-like and spindle-like, can be reasonably tuned by anions and feeding sequences of starting materials. FeCl2 and FeSO4 are tried to be starting material of Fe source, respectively. MnCl2, LiOH and H3PO4 are used to be starting materials of Mn, Li and P sources, respectively. P + M + L sequence (that is, LiOH solution is dropwise introduced into the mixture of H3PO4 and transition metal salts) and P + L + M sequence (that is, Mn2+ and Fe2+ mixture was slowly added into the mixture of H3PO4 and LiOH) are investigated to tune the particle morphology. The introduction of SO4(2-) leads to a more uniform morphology of the as-prepared particles compared with those by Cl-1, and P + M + L sequence leads to the particles in smaller size and less agglomeration compared with those by P + L + M sequence. The nano-LiMn0.9Fe0.1PO4 with spindle-like morphology by P + M + L sequence and starting material of FeSO4 exhibits a good reversible discharge capacity of 129.7 mAh g(-1) at 0.1C. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.