New observation of morphology of Li[Fe1−Mn ]PO4 nano-fibers (x=0, 0.1, 0.3) as a cathode for lithium secondary batteries by electrospinning process

Abstract The key issue with lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO 4 ) is poor ionic conductivity. Electrospinning is one of the best way to increase a surface area. Therefore, electrospinning was presently adopted to solve the kinetic problems associated with the solid-state diffusion of Li + intercalation. In this work, nano-fibers of Li[Fe 1− x Mn x ]PO 4 ( x =0, 0.1, 0.3) were prepared from sol–gel precursor by electrospinning. After calcinations of the precursor nano-fibers at 800 °C, Li[Fe 1− x Mn x ]PO 4 nano-fibers ( x =0, 0.1, 0.3) with a diameter of 100–500 nm were successfully obtained. X-ray diffraction (XRD), videoscope, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analyses were performed to characterize the properties of the prepared materials. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the morphology change of nano-sized Li[Fe 1− x Mn x ]PO 4 ( x =0, 0.1, 0.3) obtained through electrospinning. Li[Fe 1− x Mn x ]PO 4 ( x =0.1, 0.3) nano-fibers displayed a rough surface due to the increased manganese content. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of its kind.