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

Spherical hierarchical LiFePO 4 /C cathode material was fabricated by a facile sol spray drying method using FePO 4 •2H 2 O, LiOH, oxalate acid (H 2 C 2 O 4 •2H 2 O) 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 LiFePO 4 /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   m 2 g −1 ) provived by the spherical hierarchical structure.