Synthesis of Microspherical LiFePO4-Carbon Composites for Lithium-Ion Batteries

This paper reports an "all in one" procedure to produce mesoporous, micro-spherical LiFePO₄ composed of agglomerated crystalline nanoparticles. Each nanoparticle is individually coated with a thin glucose-derived carbon layer. The main advantage of the as-synthesized materials is their good performance at high charge-discharge rates. The nanoparticles and the mesoporosity guarantee a short bulk diffusion distance for both lithium ions and electrons, as well as additional active sites for the charge transfer reactions. At the same time, the thin interconnected carbon coating provides a conductive framework capable of delivering electrons to the nanostructured LiFePO₄.