Fast-Rate Capable Electrode Material with Higher Energy Density than LiFePO4: 4.2V LiVPO4F Synthesized by Scalable Single-Step Solid-State Reaction

Abstract

Use of compounds that contain fluorine (F) as electrode materials in lithium ion batteries has been considered, but synthesizing single-phase samples of these compounds is a difficult task. Here, it is demonstrated that a simple scalable single-step solid-state process with additional fluorine source can obtain highly pure LiVPO4F. The resulting material with submicron particles achieves very high rate capability approximate to 100 mAh g(-1) at 60 C-rate (1-min discharge) and even at 200 C-rate (18 s discharge). It retains superior capacity, approximate to 120 mAh g(-1) at 10 C charge/10 C discharge rate (6-min) for 500 cycles with >95% retention efficiency. Furthermore, LiVPO4F shows low polarization even at high rates leading to higher operating potential >3.45 V (approximate to 3.6 V at 60 C-rate), so it achieves high energy density. It is demonstrated for the first time that highly pure LiVPO4F can achieve high power capability comparable to LiFePO4 and much higher energy density (approximate to 521 Wh g(-1) at 20 C-rate) than LiFePO4 even without nanostructured particles. LiVPO4F can be a real substitute of LiFePO4.