Growth of lithium iron silicates nanoplates with high energy facets via polymorphs transition for ehanced lithium-ion extraction/insertion reaction

Abstract

The anisotropic functionalities of nanostructured silicates are highly attractive for various applications, whereas the silicates’ nanostructure heavily relies on the reactions in low temperature liquid conditions. Due to the stubborn [SiO4][Formula: see text] lattice foundation and most surfactants’ thermal instability, it is extremely difficult to manipulate the nanostructure and preserve high energy lattice facets in the high temperature solid state growth of silicates. In this report, the polymorphs transition of Li2FeSiO4 is found to open a precious window for adsorbate–crystal interactions. By adsorbing on the intermediates of phase transition, Ethlyene glycol effectively promotes the solid-state growth of Li2FeSiO4 nanoplates at high temperature, of which the high energy (020) facet becomes the dominant and exhibits high activity for fast charge transportation. The obtained Li2FeSiO4 nanoplates show greatly enhanced reactivity for Li[Formula: see text] ions’ extraction/insertion, and exhibit excellent capacities at high current density (1–10 C) as the cathode material for lithium-ion batteries.