Electrochemical Performance of LiFePO4/C Powders Synthesized by Solution Combustion Method as the Lithium-Ion Batteries Cathode Material

The current research aims to synthesize LiFePO4 nanoparticles as common cathodic materials used for lithium-ion batteries through the solution combustion synthesis method using a mixture of different types of organic fuels such as CetylTrimethylAmmonium Bromide (CTAB)-Glycine (CG), CTAB-Citric Acid (CCA), and CTAB-Urea (CU), considering the effects of fuel contents with the oxidant ratio of 5. The low rate of combustion reaction led to direct formation of LiFePO4 phase which was accompanied by some impurity phases. According to the results from the X-ray powder diffraction, single-phase LiFePO4 powders can be obtained followed by calcination at 700 °C for three h under the 95 % Ar + 5 % H2 atmosphere. The functional groups of the LiFePO4 powders were characterized based on Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. In addition, small particles (~ 100-400 nm) with spherical morphologies as a function of fuel type were detected in Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images. The electrochemical properties confirmed that the highest discharge capacity could be obtained using a mixture of CTAB and citric acid fuels (at the rate of 0.2 C, 127 mAh g-1) characterized by high crystallinity and small particle size.