title: Engineering 3D bicontinuous hierarchically macro-mesoporous LiFePO4/C nanocomposite for lithium storage with high rate capability and long cycle stability.
abstract: A highly crystalline three dimensional (3D) bicontinuous hierarchically macro-mesoporous LiFePO4/C nanocomposite constructed by nanoparticles in the range of 50~100 nm via a rapid microwave assisted solvothermal process followed by carbon coating have been synthesized as cathode material for high performance lithium-ion batteries. The abundant 3D macropores allow better penetration of electrolyte to promote Li(+) diffusion, the mesopores provide more electrochemical reaction sites and the carbon layers outside LiFePO4 nanoparticles increase the electrical conductivity, thus ultimately facilitating reverse reaction of Fe(3+) to Fe(2+) and alleviating electrode polarization. In addition, the particle size in nanoscale can provide short diffusion lengths for the Li(+) intercalation-deintercalation. As a result, the 3D macro-mesoporous nanosized LiFePO4/C electrode exhibits excellent rate capability (129.1 mA h/g at 2 C; 110.9 mA h/g at 10 C) and cycling stability (87.2% capacity retention at 2 C after 1000 cycles, 76.3% at 5 C after 500 cycles and 87.8% at 10 C after 500 cycles, respectively), which are much better than many reported LiFePO4/C structures. Our demonstration here offers the opportunity to develop nanoscaled hierarchically porous LiFePO4/C structures for high performance lithium-ion batteries through microwave assisted solvothermal method.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Living Materials at the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, 430070, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Living Materials at the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, 430070, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Shao-Zhuan
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Living Materials at the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, 430070, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Living Materials at the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, 430070, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Living Materials at the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, 430070, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Living Materials at the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, 430070, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Hong-En
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Living Materials at the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, 430070, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Li-Hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: FEI company, Shanghai Nanoport, 399 Shenxia Road, 201210 Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Bin-Jie
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Living Materials at the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, 430070, Wuhan, Hubei, China.|Laboratory of Inorganic Materials Chemistry (CMI), University of Namur, 61 rue de Bruxelles, B-5000 Namur, Belgium.|Department of Chemistry and Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Bao-Lian
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Su