Structure and Transport Investigations on Lithium-iron-phosphate Glasses

Cathode materials for Lithium Ion Batteries (LIB's) are being constantly studied and reviewed especially in the past few decades. LiFePO4 (LFP) is one of the most potential candidates in the pedigree of cathode materials and has been under extensive study ever since. In this work, we report the synthesis of amorphous analogs of crystallite LFP by conventional melt quenching method. Thermal study by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to determine the glass transition T-g and crystallization T-c temperatures on the obtained glass sample Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) absorption spectroscopy is being used to investigate the structural properties of the glass sample. The intrinsic electrical conductivity measurements were done using broad-band impedance spectroscopy with wide different temperature ranges. The conduction mechanism is described by non-adiabatic small polaron hopping between nearest neighbors. Based on the obtained results, we suggest that the glassy LFP is more suitable cathode material as compared to its crystalline counterpart.