Effect of cooling modes on microstructure and electrochemical performance of LiFePO4

LiFePO4 was prepared by heating the pre-decomposed precursor mixtures sealed in vacuum quartz-tube. Three kinds of cooling modes including nature cooling, air quenching, and water quenching were applied to comparing the effects of cooling modes on the microstructure and electrochemical characteristics of the material. The results indicate that the water quenching mode can control overgrowth of the grain size of final product and improve its electrochemical performance compared with nature cooling mode and air quenching mode. The sample synthesized by using water quenching mode is of the highest reversible discharge specific capacity and the best cyclic electrochemical performance, demonstrating the first discharge capacity of 138.1 mA·h/g at 0.1C rate and the total loss of capacity of 3.11% after 20 cycles.