Solvothermal Synthesis of Hierarchical LiFePO₄ Microplates with Exposed (010) Faces as Cathode Materials for Lithium Ion Batteries

Hierarchical LiFePO 4 microplates have been synthesized by a solvothermal approach in ethanol solvent with self-prepared amorphous FePO 4 particles as precursors. The microplates expose a large scale of the (010) faces with a mean length of 2.5 μm, width of 1.5 μm and thickness of 200–500 nm. Furthermore, the hierarchical LiFePO 4 microplates are composed of nanosheets with a size of 50 nm and thickness of 10 nm. When the solvent ethanol was replaced by a mixture of water–ethanol (1/1, by volume) in the reaction, a distinctive morphology, the LiFePO 4 microflower, was obtained. After coating carbon, the LiFePO 4 /C microplates deliver a high discharge capacity of 157 mAh g –1 at 0.1 C, and exhibit excellent rate capability and cycling performance, which are much better than those for the LiFePO 4 /C microflowers.