Crystal Orientation Tuning of LiFePO₄ Nanoplates for High Rate Lithium Battery Cathode Materials

Abstract

We report the crystal orientation tuning of LiFePO₄ nanoplates for high rate lithium battery cathode materials. Olivine LiFePO₄ nanoplates can be easily prepared by glycol-based solvothermal process, and the largest crystallographic facet of the LiFePO₄ nanoplates, as well as so-caused electrochemical performances, can be tuned by the mixing procedure of starting materials. LiFePO₄ nanoplates with crystal orientation along the <i>ac</i> facet and <i>bc</i> facet present similar reversible capacities of around 160 mAh g^–1 at 0.1, 0.5, and 1 C-rates but quite different ones at high C-rates. The former delivers 156 mAh g^–1 and 148 mAh g^–1 at 5 C-rate and 10 C-rate, respectively, while the latter delivers 132 mAh g^–1 and only 28 mAh g^–1 at 5 C-rate and 10 C-rate, respectively, demonstrating that the crystal orientation plays important role for the performance of LiFePO₄ nanoplates. This paves a facile way to prepare high performance LiFePO₄ nanoplate cathode material for lithium ion batteries