Synthesis and Performance of LiFePO4/C and Carbon Fibre Composite as Cathodes in Lithium-ion Batteries

JORGE THOMAS; VISINTIN A.

Queretaro

Congreso; The 64th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry; 2013

International Society of Electrochemistry

In the last years, new lithium-ion intercalation materials have been studied at INIFTA (National University of La Plata) as a result of the Argentine government?s interest in exploiting large lithium deposits in the north of the country [1,2]. We are working on the development of techniques for building electrodes with a good response to high discharge currents. Lithium iron phosphates with olivine structures would meet the requirement of energy drain at high current values. The physical characterization was performed by using SEM, TEM, XRD and EDS techniques. For the electrochemical characterization cyclic voltammetry, charge-discharge cycling, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used. Currently, the cathode material, LiFePO4/C, is the most promising active material for high-power lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicle applications and it has been observed that its response is also dependent on the nature of the carbon used as support. This paper presents the preliminary results from the synthesis of LiFePO4 supported on carbon fibres where phosphate and fibres are synthesized together at a single stage. The electrodes built with this material have a good electrochemical response with the typical behaviour of LiFePO4. In addition, the behaviour of these materials has been characterized from the viewpoint of the electrochemistry of charge/discharge processes in order to provide knowledge about the global modelling of batteries. Results will be discussed in the Innovation and Technology Transfer Project in Priority Areas of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP).