In situ confined synthesis of LiFePO 4 /Ti 3 C 2 @C composites with high-rate and low-temperature long cycling performance

Although LiFePO 4 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 LiFePO 4 /Ti 3 C 2 @C composites for lithium-ion battery cathodes are successfully synthesized through in situ solvothermal method confined growth. LiFePO 4 nanoparticles are uniformly grown in situ between highly conductive Ti 3 C 2 layers to form a surface-point-surface porous hierarchical conductive network. The accordion-like-structured Ti 3 C 2 can provide fast ion and electron conduction channels and effectively inhibit the agglomeration of the LiFePO 4 nanoparticles. These phenomena are beneficial to improve the high-rate performance, cycle stability, and low-temperature performance of LiFePO 4 /Ti 3 C 2 . LiFePO 4 /Ti 3 C 2 @C delivers a high initial discharge capacity of 120 mAh g −1 at 5 C. LiFePO 4 /Ti 3 C 2 @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.