Fabrication and characteristics of spherical hierarchical LiFePO4/C cathode material by a facile method

Spherical hierarchical LiFePO4/C cathode material was fabricated by a facile sol spray drying method using FePO4•2H2O, LiOH, oxalate acid (H2C2O4•2H2O) and sucrose as raw materials. A relatively low drying temperature 180 °C was adopted in order to form a uniform and thin carbon layer on the surface. The LiFePO4/C sample was characterized by physical and electrochemical measurements and the influence of the specific morphology on the electrochemical property was investigated. This cathode material had a reversible capacity of 160.9 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C and maintained 105.8 mAh g−1 at as high as 20 C with superior cycling performance. The excellent electrochemical property should be attributed to the carbon coated nanoparticles and a large specific surface area (36.5 m2 g−1) provived by the spherical hierarchical structure.