Effect of complexing agents on the electrochemical performance of LiFePO4/C prepared by sol-gel method.
LiFePO4/C is synthesized via sol-gel method using Fe3+ as iron sources and different complexing agents, followed by sintering at high temperature for crystallization. The amount of carbon in these composites is less than 6.8 wt.%, and the X-ray diffraction experiment confirms that all samples are pure single phase indexed with the orthorhombic Pnma space group. The particle size of the LiFePO4/C synthesized by acetic acid as a complexing agent is very fine with a size of 200 nm. The electrochemical performance of this material, including reversible capacity, cycle number, and charge-discharge characteristics, is better than those of LiFePO4/C synthesized by other complexing agents. The cell of this sample can deliver a discharge capacity of 161.1 mAh g-1 at the first cycle. After 30 cycles, the capacity decreases to 157.5 mAh g-1, and the capacity fading rate is 2.2%. The mechanism is studied to explain the effect of a complexing agent on the synthesis of LiFePO4/C by sol-gel method. The results show that the complexing agent with a low stability constant may be proper for the synthetic process of LiFePO4/C via sol-gel method.
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Research Institute for Green Energy Convergence Technology, Gyeongsang National University, 900 Gajwa-dong, Jinju, 600-701, Korea. jhahn@gnu.ac.kr.
Rong
R
Yang
Erwei
E
Kang
Bailing
B
Jiang
Jou-Hyeon
JH
Ahn