Kinetics of Thermal Decomposition of Lithium Hexafluorophosphate

With on-line coupled thermo-gravimetric analyzer-Fourier transform infrared spectrometer technique, the thermal decomposition of lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) and its gas evolution at inert environment (H2O<10 ppm) were studied under both non-isothermal and isothermal conditions. The results showed that the LiPF6 decomposition is a single-stage reaction with LiF as final residue and PF5 as gas product. In addition, its decomposition kinetics was determined as 2D phase boundary movement (cylindrical symmetry) under both non-isothermal and isothermal conditions. Furthermore, the activation energy of LiPF6 decomposition was calculated as 104 and 92 kJ/mol for non-isothermal and isothermal conditions, respectively.