The sintering time of LiFePO₄/C synthesis by the co-precipitation method

The battery material production is potentially established in Indonesia, but now its development is still an idea. Further research is required to support a realistic effort of the battery material production to get the optimization of the lithium ion battery material. One of the most desired lithium ion batteries is LiFePO₄/C. The advantages of LiFePO₄/C battery are environmentally friendly (because it doesn’t contain heavy metals), the raw materials are abundant in Indonesia, and excellent thermal stability. An effective and efficient synthesis method is needed to optimize the synthesis of LiFePO₄/C. Based on these characteristics, the selected method is co-precipitation. Co-precipitation method can eliminate impurities which dissolved in water so the product be cleaner. Co-precipitation is done at moderate temperature for an hour. The raw materials are FeSO₄, (NH₄)H₂PO₄, and Li₂CO₃. These materials are dissolved in aquadest using H₂O₂ as oxidizing media and NH₃ as pH control. This research studied the effect of sintering time (10 hours, 20 hours and 30 hours) in inert condition. LiFePO₄/C products are characterized by XRD, SEM and electrochemical properties. The pattern of XRD shows that the peaks of product are similar to the pattern of JCPDS Card No 40-1499. The LiFePO₄ product with 20 hours sintering has smaller amount of impurities than the LiFePO₄/C product with 10 hours and 30 hours sintering time. Whereas the LiFePO₄/C product with 30 hours sintering has the highest of the concentration of impurities. Based on SEM analysis the particle size is still in submicron. The particle size range distribution of LiFePO₄/C with 10,20,30 hours sintering are in the range of 0,27-2,20 µm with the most particle size distribution at 0,27 µm and 0,29 µm. And based on Electrochemical analysis the initial discharge capacity of LiFePO₄/C battery were 14,58 mAh/g (10 hours sintering), 15 mAh/g (20 hours sintering) and 3,32 mAh/g (30 hours sintering).