Pure LiFePO 4 with multiple morphologies, such as nanoplate, nanocubes, and self-assembled rose-like structures, were synthesis via hydrothermal process employing surfactant CTAB as soft-template. The addition of surfactant is the key factor for controlling the crystal growth of the particles. Among these products, LiFePO 4 nanoplates with preferential direction of b-axis delivers the highest capacity at 0.1C, and the most stable cycle performance, indicating a great advantage of shape-control chemistry in nanomaterials preparation, and showing an enormous potential as cathode materials for highperformance lithium ion batteries.