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Title: Ambient synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical activity of LiFePO₄ nanomaterials derived from iron phosphate intermediates

Journal Article · · Nano Research
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [4];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [4]
  1. State Univ. of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY (United States);
  2. State Univ. of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  3. State Univ. of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY (United States)
  4. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

LiFePO₄ materials have become increasingly popular as a cathode material due to the many benefits they possess including thermal stability, durability, low cost, and long life span. Nevertheless, to broaden the general appeal of this material for practical electrochemical applications, it would be useful to develop a relatively mild, reasonably simple synthesis method of this cathode material. Herein, we describe a generalizable, 2-step methodology of sustainably synthesizing LiFePO₄ by incorporating a template-based, ambient, surfactantless, seedless, U-tube protocol in order to generate size and morphologically tailored, crystalline, phase-pure nanowires. The purity, composition, crystallinity, and intrinsic quality of these wires were systematically assessed using transmission electron microscopy TEM, HRTEM, SEM, XRD, SAED, EDAX and high-resolution synchrotron XRD. From these techniques, we were able to determine that there is an absence of defects present in our wires, supporting the viability of our synthetic approach. Electrochemical analysis was also employed to assess their electrochemical activity. Although our nanowires do not contain any noticeable impurities, we attribute their less than optimal electrochemical rigor to differences in the chemical bonding between our LiFePO₄ nanowires and their bulk-like counterparts. Specifically, we demonstrate for the first time experimentally that the Fe-O3 chemical bond plays an important role in determining the overall conductivity of the material, an assertion which is further supported by recent first principles calculations. Nonetheless, our ambient, solution-based synthesis technique is capable of generating highly crystalline and phase-pure energy-storage-relevant nanowires that can be tailored so as to fabricate different sized materials of reproducible, reliable morphology.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Mesoscale Transport Properties (m2M)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704; SC0012673
OSTI ID:
1193198
Report Number(s):
BNL-107893-2015-JA; R&D Project: PM037; MA015MACA; KC0201030; KC0201010
Journal Information:
Nano Research, Vol. 589; ISSN 1998-0124
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 10 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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