Modification of high potential, high capacity Li2FeP 2O7 cathode material for lithium ion batteries

Li2FeP2O7 is a newly developed polyanionic cathode material for high performance lithium ion batteries. It is considered very attractive due to its large specific capacity, good thermal and chemical stability, and environmental benignity. However, the application of Li2FeP2O7 is limited by its low ionic and electronic conductivities. To overcome the above problem, a solution-based technique was successfully developed to synthesize Li2FeP2O7 powders with very fine and uniform particle size (< 1 μm), achieving much faster kinetics. The obtained Li2FeP2O7 powders were tested in lithium ion batteries by measurements of cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling. We found that the modified Li2FeP2O7 cathode could maintain a relatively high capacity even at fast discharge rates.