Hydrothermal synthesis of ultra-thin LiFePO4 platelets for Li-ion batteries

Ultra-thin LiFePO4 platelets are prepared by a hydrothermal process using tetraethylene glycol as co-solvent. The prepared LiFePO4 platelets have a very thin thickness of about 50–80 nm, which is beneficial for Li ions to fast transfer in the bulk of the electrode. It is found that the as-synthesized LiFePO4 cathode material exhibits a quite high reversible capacity of 137 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C. After carbon coating, the obtained LiFePO4/C composite cathode has the enhanced electronic conductivity, and thus the rate capability has been improved significantly. At 8 and 12 C, the composite has the discharge capacity of 104 and 95 mAh g−1, respectively, which suggests that the ultra-thin LiFePO4 platelets are a promising candidate for the large-scale Li-ion batteries.