Abstract. Olivine phosphates of general formula LiMPO4 (M = Fe, Co, Ni) were prepared and characterised in order to evaluate new potential cathode materials for secondary lithium ion batteries. The synthesis was performed by soft chemistry methods to avoid problematical and energetic expensive solid state reactions. In all the compounds no secondary phase was detected and the powder morphology was found to be suitable for cathode layers preparation. Only LiFePO4 and LiCoPO4 showed reversible lithium deintercalation-intercalation at 3.5 and 4.8 V vs. Li+/Li, respectively. The LiCoPO4 high potential makes this compound very attractive for high energy batteries, but unfortunately its lifetime appears to be too poor.
IntroductionSince the demonstration of lithium intercalation-deintercalation reversibility in LiFePO4 [1], mixed lithium transition metal phosphates with olivine structure have been largely investigated [2-15] and considered as possible candidates for cathode materials in lithium ion secondary batteries.These compounds present some relevant advantages in comparison to the lithium transition metal oxides (LiCoO2, LiNiOz and LiMn204). In particular their phase stability during the intercalation-deintercalation process guarantees adequate performances even at temperatures higher than 60 ~ [14] and prevents risks in abusive or faulty conditions (e.g. overcharge and internal short circuit) [1,2,6,7]. The use of the phosphates as cathode material does not change the specific energy of the electrochemical devices. The specific capacity stored in these phosphates does not largely differ from that of the lithium transition metal oxides. In fact, in the latter the electroactive lithium amount is just only half of the total one, while in the former the quantity can reach also the 80% [8]; an average value of about 135 mAh/g was found for both materials. Furthermore, in the case of the lithium transition metal oxides the redox potential is about 4.0 V vs. Li § while in the phosphates the values ranges from 3.4 to 4.8 V and depends from the nature of transition metal cation [5,8]. An intrinsic negative