In situ confined synthesis of LiFePO4/Ti3C2@C composites with high-rate and low-temperature long cycling performance.

Although LiFePO₄ has the advantages of low raw material cost, excellent safety, and cycle performance, it remains challenging to achieve high-rate and low-temperature long cycling performance. To this context, porous hierarchical carbon-coated LiFePO₄/Ti₃C₂@C composites for lithium-ion battery cathodes are successfully synthesized through in situ solvothermal method confined growth. LiFePO₄ nanoparticles are uniformly grown in situ between highly conductive Ti₃C₂ layers to form a surface-point-surface porous hierarchical conductive network. The accordion-like-structured Ti₃C₂ can provide fast ion and electron conduction channels and effectively inhibit the agglomeration of the LiFePO₄ nanoparticles. These phenomena are beneficial to improve the high-rate performance, cycle stability, and low-temperature performance of LiFePO₄/Ti₃C₂. LiFePO₄/Ti₃C₂@C delivers a high initial discharge capacity of 120 mAh g⁻¹ at 5 C. LiFePO₄/Ti₃C₂@C shows excellent low-temperature performance with discharge capacity of 47.7 mAh g⁻¹ and a perfect capacity retention of 99.2%, over 200 cycles at 1 C under − 20 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]