Novel insights into higher capacity from the Li-ion battery cathode material Li 2 FeSiO 4

Eggshell-Membrane-Derived Carbon Coated on Li2FeSiO4 Cathode Material for Li-Ion Batteries

Lithium iron orthosilicate (LFS) cathode can be prepared via the polyol-assisted ball milling method with the incorporation of carbon derived from eggshell membrane (ESM) for improving inherent poor electronic conduction. The powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirmed the diffraction peaks without any presence of further impure phase. Overall, 9 wt.% of carbon was loaded on the LFS, which was identified using thermogravimetric analysis. The nature of carbon was described using parameters such as monolayer, and average surface area was 53.5 and 24 m2 g−1 with the aid of Langmuir and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area respectively. The binding energy was observed at 285.66 eV for C–N owing to the nitrogen content in eggshell membrane, which provides more charge carriers for conduction. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images clearly show the carbon coating on the LFS, the porous nature of carbon, and the atom arrangements. From the cyclic voltammetry (CV) curve, the ratio of the anodic to the cathodic peak current was calculated as 1.03, which reveals that the materials possess good reversibility. Due to the reversibility of the redox mechanism, the material exhibits discharge specific capacity of 194 mAh g−1 for the first cycle, with capacity retention and an average coulombic efficiency of 94.7% and 98.5% up to 50 cycles.