Design of Li2FeSiO4/C/CePO4 composite as a cathode material for excellent lithium storage

Li2FeSiO4, as a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), has attracted much attention owing to its high theoretical capacity, environmental benignity, and low cost. However, low electronic conductivity and slow diffusion of lithium ions preclude its application. To solve the aforementioned issues, Li2FeSiO4/C/CePO4 composite is designed and synthesized by a sol-gel method, in which the surface-coated carbon layer and CePO4 improve the electronic and ionic conductance of Li2FeSiO4, respectively. Benefiting from synergistic contributions from C and CePO4, 6 wt.% CePO4-modified Li2FeSiO4/C exhibits high rate performance (144, 132, 118, 104, and 74 mAh g(-1) at 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 C) and good cycling stability (112 and 87 mAh g(-1) after 500 and 800 cycles at 5 and 10 C, respectively). This work allows the potential applications of Li2FeSiO4/C/CePO4 cathode in LIBs with low-cost and high performance.

Automated summary

By surface-coating carbon layer and introducing CePO4 modification, the electronic and ionic conductance of Li2FeSiO4 are improved, resulting in Li2FeSiO4/C/CePO4 composite with high rate performance and good cycling stability.