Enhanced electrochemical performance of LiFePO4/C cathode material by Na+ and Ti4+ co-doping
摘要
The wide application of LiFePO4/C cathode material is often circumvented by low electrical conductivity and sluggish Li+ diffusion rate. Herein, Na+ and Ti4+ doping was adopted to alleviate above problems. The formation energy, Li–O band length, and electronic structure were analyzed by first principle calculations to study the effect of Na+ and Ti4+ doping on LiFePO4 material. The calculations show that Ti4+ ions are inclined to occupy Fe site, Li–O bond is lengthened, and the band gap is decreased after doping. On this basis, undoped, Ti4+-doped, and Na+/Ti4+ co-doped LiFePO4 samples were prepared by wet ball milling, spray drying, and carbothermal reduction method. It is found that Na+ and Ti4+ doping obviously enhances Li+ ion diffusion rate and electrical conductivity of material, thereby improving the electrochemical performance of material. The increase of Li+ ion diffusion rate can be mainly attributed to widened Li+ diffusion channel, lengthened Li–O bond, and shortened Li+ diffusion path after Na+ and Ti4+ doping. The electrical conductivity is also increased to 10−1 order of magnitude after Na+ and Ti4+ doping, in consistence with the lowered band gap. Among them, Li0.98Na0.02Fe0.99Ti0.01PO4/C material displays the best electrochemical performance in coin-type cell and 14,500 cylindrical battery.