A soft chemistry synthesis routine for LiFePO4–C using a novel carbon source

As a novel carbon source, polyethylene glycol (PEG; mean molecular weight of 10,000) was adopted to prepare LiFePO4–C cathode material by a very simple soft chemistry method, which was called rheological phase reaction by us. X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveal that the crystallized LiFePO4 powder can be synthesized easily by rheological phase reaction at a relative low temperature (400 °C). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results indicate that after the decomposition of PEG, active material and porous structure carbon were left in the resultant products. An initial discharge capacity of 162 and 139 mAh g−1 was achieved for 500 °C sample at room temperature with C rates of 0.06 C (10 mA g−1) and 1 C (170 mA g−1), respectively. The satisfactory initial discharge capacity and superior rate capacity should attribute to the porous conductive carbon structure and the soft synthesis process.