New Li₂FeSiO₄-carbon monoliths with controlled macropores: Effects of pore properties on electrode performance

Monolithic Li₂FeSiO₄-carbon composites with well-defined macropores have been prepared from the silica-based gels containing Li, Fe, and carbon sources. The macroporous precursor gels can be fabricated by the sol-gel method accompanied by phase separation. A fine control of the macropore size in the resultant composites has been achieved by controlling the macropore size of the precursor gels simply by adjusting the starting compositions. The effects of pore properties on Li insertion-extraction capabilities have been investigated by utilizing the resultant Li ₂FeSiO₄-carbon composites as the cathode of lithium ion batteries. The electrodes prepared from the Li₂FeSiO ₄-carbon composites with different macropore sizes exhibit significant differences in the charge-discharge properties. The results strongly suggest that the smaller macropore size (equal to the thinner macropore skeletons) and the presence of micro- and mesopores in the macropore skeletons (hierarchically porous structure) are desirable for a better electrode in the case of Li₂FeSiO₄, which has extremely low ionic and electrical conductivities.