Investigation of charge transfer kinetics of Li-Intercalation in LiFePO4

Recent studies point out contradictions between classical Butler-Volmer kinetics and the charge transfer kinetics of lithium intercalation in host materials. In this work the charge transfer kinetics of lithium intercalation in LiFePO4 are investigated using current controlled electrochemical impedance spectroscopy with varying amplitudes. The results point out a significant impact of ohmic and diffusion contributions to the total overpotential which is normally extracted from constant current charging - discharging experiments to determine Tafel-plots, exchange currents and charge transfer coefficients. By the accurate separation of the activation overpotential from the total overpotential the authors are able to show that the charge transfer kinetics of lithium intercalation in LiFePO4 perfectly obey the Butler-Volmer equation.