Effect of gelatin concentration on the synthetize of the LiFePO₄/C composite for lithium ion batteries

Highlights: • Gelatin has been used to regulate and control the synthesis of LiFePO₄/C composite. • Influence of gelatin concentration on crystal structure of LiFePO₄ has been observed. • The shape transformation from sphere-like to rod-like structure of LiFePO₄/C has been revealed. - Abstract: Gelatin is an effective additive of the cathode, which would regulate and control the crystal and morphology of LiFePO₄/C composite for enhancing electrochemical performance of the lithium ion battery. The influence of gelatin concentration on the preparation of LiFePO₄/C composite has been investigated. It is observed by SEM that the shape transformed from sphere-like to rod-like structure with the gelatin concentration increased from 1 wt.% to 5 wt.%; meanwhile, the lattice parameters first showed increase trend and then decrease. The LiFePO₄/C composite obtained with the 2 wt.% gelatin solution shows the lowest polarization and excellent rate performance