PVA-assisted combustion synthesis and characterization of porous nanocomposite Li2FeSiO4/C

Porous Li2FeSiO4/C nanocomposites were synthesized by a PVA-assisted combustion method, and phase pure Li2FeSiO4 was produced for samples prepared with 20 and 30 wt.% starch. The electrochemical properties of the Li2FeSiO4/C composite were assessed using coin cells. The PVA-assisted combustion method gave materials with surface areas up to 37.7 m2 g− 1 and initial discharge capacity of 135 mAh g− 1 at a discharge rate of C/16 (C = 160 mA g− 1). Both phase purity and discharge capacity were highly sensitive to the amount of carbon precursor used in the synthesis, and a nominal carbon content of 20% was found to give the best performance with respect to charge and discharge capacity.