Structural, microstructural, and electrochemical properties of LiFePO4 powders synthesized by mixture of fuels

A mixture of organic fuels was used for synthesis of porous LiFePO4 (LFP) powders by solution combustion method. The effects of mixture of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and citric acid on the structural, microstructural, and electrochemical properties of LFP cathode were compared with CTAB-urea mixed fuel by using various modern characterization methods. The slow combustion reaction rate of the CTAB-citric acid mixed fuel led to the higher crystallinity, higher specific surface areas (80 m2/g), and higher pore volume (0.12 cm3/g). The LFP powders synthesized by the CTAB-citric acid mixed fuel showed the higher specific discharge capacity of 105 mAh g−1 at 1 C rate in comparison with the discharge capacity of 80 mAh g−1 for the mixture of CTAB and urea fuel. The higher kinetics of the CTAB-citric acid electrode was attributed to the porous microstructure according to the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.