Effect of Spherical Particle Size on the Electrochemical Properties of Lithium Iron Phosphate

The effect of spherical particle size on the surface morphology, electrochemical property and processability of lithium iron phosphate was systematically studied. Spherical lithium iron phosphate with different particle size distributions controlled with ball time of precursor slurry was prepared by spray drying method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), charge and discharge measurements and EIS. The electrochemical performances of the sample materials were measured by coin cells and 14500 batteries. XRD shows that the spherical lithium iron phosphate with different particle sizes all have good crystal structure due to the perfect mixing of the raw materials and rapid drying. The lithium iron phosphate microsphere with different particle sizes self-assembled with submicron primary particles has a core-shell structure. The longer ball time the precursors are, the smaller the active material particles are prepared. The electrode material with 6 h ball time of precursor slurry has the best physical properties and the processability. The composite has a uniform particle size and higher tap density of 1.46 g/cm3, which delivers a discharge capacity of 167.6 mAh/g at a discharge rate of 0.5 C. The results were confirmed by the 14 500 mA·h cylindrical batteries, which delivers a discharge capacity of 579 mAh at 0.5 C. And low-temperature performance with capacity of 458.5 mA h at −20 °C under a discharge rate of 0.5 C is the 79.2% of the same discharge rate at 25 °C. Otherwise, the 14500 batteries also exhibit excellent cycling performance and the capacity maintains 93% after 2 000 cycles.