Lithium iron phosphate with high-rate capability synthesized through hydrothermal reaction in low Li concentration solution

Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) is one of the most important cathode materials for high-performance lithium-ion batteries in the future due to its high safety, high reversibility, and good repeatability. However, high cost of lithium salt makes it difficult to large scale production in hydrothermal method. Therefore, it is urgent to reduce production costs of LiFePO4 while maintaining the unique advantages of hydrothermal methods. In this work, the lithium iron phosphate powders (LFP-twi) with low Fe-Li anti-site defect concentration and inhibition along the direction [010] was constructed by hydrothermal reaction with low lithium usage. As a result, this allows the material to have an excellent reversible capacity (163.6 mAhg−1 at 0.1 C), ultra-high-rate capability (120 mAhg−1 at 10 C), and noticeable low-temperature performance (130 mAhg−1 at - 20 ℃ and 0.1 C). These findings open a new avenue for the development of high-density current and low-temperature resistant LiFePO4 batteries.