Porous micro-spherical LiFePO4/graphene nanocomposites for high-performance Li ion battery cathode materials

Abstract

In this work, we designed a novel cathode material, porous micro-spherical LiFePO₄/graphene nanocomposites with low graphene content, via a hydrothermal route followed by a lithiation process. The nanocomposites consist of LiFePO₄ microspheres (∼3 μm) with their primary particles (∼100 nm) sandwiched between layers of graphene nanosheets. Mesopores (∼25 nm) are widely present in the microspheres. TGA analysis indicates that only 2.65% graphene was loaded in the composites. When studied as a cathode material for Li-ion batteries, with the absence of a conductive agent, the nanocomposites can display a high capacity of 118.2 mA h g⁻¹ at 20 C.