PREPARATION METHOD OF LAYERED CARBON-DOPED SODIUM IRON PHOSPHATE CATHODE MATERIAL

Abstract

The present disclosure discloses a preparation method of a layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate cathode material, including: placing a carbonate powder in an inert atmosphere, introducing a gaseous organic matter, and heating to allow a reaction to obtain a MCO.sub.3/C layered carbon material; and mixing the MCO.sub.3/C layered carbon material, a sodium source, ferrous phosphate, and a dispersing agent in an inert atmosphere, grinding a resulting mixture, washing and drying to remove the dispersing agent, and heating to allow a reaction in an inert atmosphere to obtain the layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate cathode material.

Claims

1. A preparation method of a layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate cathode material, comprising the following steps: S 1: placing a carbonate powder in an inert atmosphere, introducing a gaseous organic matter, and heating to allow a reaction to obtain an Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material, the carbonate is sodium carbonate; and S2: mixing the Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material, a sodium source, ferrous phosphate, and a dispersing agent in an inert atmosphere, grinding a resulting mixture, washing and drying to remove the dispersing agent, and heating to allow a reaction in an inert atmosphere to obtain the layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate cathode material, the Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material is added at a mass 0.05% to 8% of a total mass of the sodium source and the ferrous phosphate, a solid-to-liquid ratio of a total amount of the sodium source, the Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material, and the ferrous phosphate to the dispersing agent is 1:(0.2-8), the heating is conducted under microwave heating, and the microwave heating is conducted at 200 C. to 850 C. for 0.1 h to 12 h, the ferrous phosphate is prepared by the following method: adding a first acid solution to a ferronickel powder for leaching to obtain a nickel and iron salt solution; adjusting a pH of the nickel and iron salt solution with an alkali to obtain an iron hydroxide precipitate; adding a dilute alkali to purify the iron hydroxide precipitate, dissolving a resulting purified iron hydroxide in a second acid solution, and adding a reducing agent to obtain a ferrous salt; and adding phosphoric acid to the ferrous salt to prepare the ferrous phosphate.

2. The preparation method according to claim 1, wherein in Si, the gaseous organic matter is one or more selected from the group consisting of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, propylaldehyde, polyacetaldehyde, toluene, methanol, ethanol, polyethylene glycol, and propanol.

3. The preparation method according to claim 1, wherein in S1, the reaction is conducted at 200 C. to 850 C. for 1 h to 15 h.

4. The preparation method according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting a pH of the nickel and iron salt solution with an alkali also produce a nickel hydroxide precipitate, and the dilute alkali is added to purify the nickel hydroxide precipitate.

5. The preparation method according to claim 1, wherein in S2, the dispersing agent is one or more selected from the group consisting of polyethylene oxide, phenolic resin, methanol, polyol, and polyalcoholamine; and the polyol comprises a polyol monomer or a polymeric polyol.

6. The preparation method according to claim 1, wherein in S2, in the process of mixing the Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material, a sodium source, ferrous phosphate, and a dispersing agent in an inert atmosphere, a nickel source is also added; and the nickel source is one or more selected from the group consisting of nickel hydroxide, nickel phosphate, nickel oxalate, and nickel carbonate.

7. The preparation method according to claim 4, wherein in S2, in the process of mixing the Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material, a sodium source, ferrous phosphate, and a dispersing agent in an inert atmosphere, a nickel source is also added; and the nickel source is one or more selected from the group consisting of nickel hydroxide, nickel phosphate, nickel oxalate, and nickel carbonate.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] The present disclosure is further described below with reference to accompanying drawings and examples.

[0033] FIG. 1 is a process flow diagram of Example 1 of the present disclosure;

[0034] FIG. 2 shows the specific discharge capacity during 100 cycles for Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Example 1 of the present disclosure; and

[0035] FIG. 3 is a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of the Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material prepared in Example 1 of the present disclosure at a magnification of 8,600.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLES

[0036] The concepts and technical effects of the present disclosure are clearly and completely described below in conjunction with examples, so as to allow the objectives, features and effects of the present disclosure to be fully understood. Apparently, the described examples are merely some rather than all of the examples of the present disclosure. All other examples obtained by those skilled in the art based on the examples of the present disclosure without creative efforts should fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

EXAMPLE 1

[0037] A layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate cathode material was prepared in this example, as shown in FIG. 1 and a specific preparation process was as follows: (1) Ferronickel was crushed and ground into a ferronickel powder, and a mixed acid (phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid in a volume ratio of 30:30, H.sup.+:about 14.5 mol/L) was added for leaching to obtain a nickel and iron salt solution, where a solid-to-liquid ratio of the ferronickel powder to the mixed acid was 1:8.5 g/ml; a pH of the nickel and iron salt solution was adjusted with 0.050 mol/L sodium hydroxide to 2.4 to obtain an iron hydroxide precipitate, and then a dilute alkali was added for purification to obtain iron hydroxide; and the iron hydroxide was separated, dried, and stored.

[0038] (2) 3.83 mol of the iron hydroxide was dissolved in 7.1 L of 0.30 mol/L sulfuric acid, 8.4 mol of an iron powder was added to conduct reduction under stirring, and then 3.5 L of 1.21 mol/L phosphoric acid was added to obtain a ferrous phosphate precipitate; and the ferrous phosphate precipitate was separated out, purified, dried, and subjected to an anti-oxidation treatment.

[0039] (3) 160 g of an ultrafine sodium carbonate powder was placed in a high-temperature-resistant container, and then the container was transferred into a closed heating device; gaseous acetaldehyde was continuously introduced for 15 min in an argon atmosphere, and the reaction system was kept at 480 C. for 7 h and 12 min; and a reaction product was cooled, washed, filtered out, and dried to obtain a Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material.

[0040] (4) Synthesis of layered carbon-doped NaFePO4: 1.27 mol of sodium hydroxide, 1.27 mol of ferrous phosphate, 20 g of Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C, and 155 mL of PEO were mixed in an argon atmosphere, then ball-milled for 8 h, and washed and dried to remove the PEO; and a resulting reaction system was subjected to a reaction at 660 C. for 7 h and 44 min in an argon atmosphere, and then cooled to obtain the layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate (Na.sub.2CO3/CNaFePO.sub.4) cathode material.

[0041] FIG. 3 is an SEM image of the Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material prepared in this example at a magnification of 8,600, and it can be seen that a layered material is prepared.

EXAMPLE 2

[0042] A layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate cathode material was prepared in this example, and a specific preparation process was as follows:

[0043] (1) Ferronickel was crushed and ground into a ferronickel powder, and a mixed acid (phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid in a volume ratio of 30:45, H.sup.+: about 16.5 mol/L) was added for leaching to obtain a nickel and iron salt solution, where a solid-to-liquid ratio of the ferronickel powder to the mixed acid was 1:8.8 g/ml; a pH of the nickel and iron salt solution was adjusted with 0.20 mol/L sodium hydroxide to 2.7 to obtain an iron hydroxide precipitate and then to 7.9 to obtain a nickel hydroxide precipitate, and a dilute alkali was added correspondingly for purification to obtain iron hydroxide and nickel hydroxide, separately; and the iron hydroxide and the nickel hydroxide were dried and stored.

[0044] (2) 4.73 mol of the iron hydroxide was dissolved in 6.7 L of 0.60 mol/L sulfuric acid, 9.50 mol of an iron powder was added to conduct reduction under stirring, and then 3.5 L of 1.0 mol/L phosphoric acid was added to obtain a ferrous phosphate precipitate; and the ferrous phosphate precipitate was separated out, purified, dried, and subjected to an anti-oxidation treatment.

[0045] (3) 140 g of an ultrafine sodium carbonate powder was placed in a high-temperature-resistant container, and then the container was transferred into a closed heating device; gaseous acetaldehyde was continuously introduced for 13 min in an argon atmosphere, and the reaction system was kept at 510 C. for 8 h and 23 min; and a reaction product was cooled, washed, filtered out, and dried to obtain a Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material.

[0046] (4) Synthesis of high-nickel layered carbon-doped NaFeNiPO.sub.4:0.90 mol of sodium citrate, 1.80 mol of ferrous phosphate, 25 g of Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C, 0.30 mol of nickel hydroxide, and 210 mL of PEO were mixed in an argon atmosphere, then ball-milled for 6.5 h, and washed and dried to remove the PEO; and a resulting reaction system was subjected to a reaction at 640 C. for 7 h and 18 min in an argon atmosphere, and then cooled to obtain the high-nickel layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate (Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/CNaFeNiPO.sub.4) cathode material.

Example 3

[0047] A layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate cathode material was prepared in this example, and a specific preparation process was as follows:

[0048] (1) Ferronickel was crushed and ground into a ferronickel powder, and a mixed acid (phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid in a volume ratio of 30:30, II': about 14.5 mol/L) was added for leaching to obtain a nickel and iron salt solution, where a solid-to-liquid ratio of the ferronickel powder to the mixed acid was 1:10.0 g/ml; a pH of the nickel and iron salt solution was adjusted with 0.050 mol/L sodium hydroxide to 2.6 to obtain an iron hydroxide precipitate, and then a dilute alkali was added for purification to obtain iron hydroxide; and the iron hydroxide was separated, dried, and stored.

[0049] (2) 3.96 mol of the iron hydroxide was dissolved in 4.5 L of 0.50 mol/L sulfuric acid, 8.4 mol of an iron powder was added to conduct reduction under stirring, and then 3.5 L of 1.21 mol/L phosphoric acid was added to obtain a ferrous phosphate precipitate; and the ferrous phosphate precipitate was separated out, purified, dried, and subjected to an anti-oxidation treatment.

[0050] (3) 140 g of an ultrafine sodium carbonate powder was placed in a high-temperature-resistant container, and then the container was transferred into a closed heating device; gaseous acetaldehyde was continuously introduced for 10min in an argon atmosphere, and the reaction system was kept at 570 C. for 8 h and 43 min; and a reaction product was cooled, washed, filtered out, and dried to obtain a Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C layered carbon material.

[0051] (4) Synthesis of layered carbon-doped NaFePO.sub.4: 1.40 mol of sodium hydroxide, 1.40 mol of ferrous phosphate, 26 g of Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C, and 155 mL of PEO were mixed in an argon atmosphere, then ball-milled for 6.0 h, and washed and dried to remove the PEO; and a resulting reaction system was subjected to a reaction at 540 C. for 70 min in a microwave reactor filled with argon, and then cooled to obtain the layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate (Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/CNaFePO.sub.4) cathode material.

EXAMPLE 4

[0052] A layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate cathode material was prepared in this example, and a specific preparation process was as follows:

[0053] (1) Ferronickel was crushed and ground into a ferronickel powder, and a mixed acid (phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid in a volume ratio of 30:45, H.sup.+:about 16.5 mol/L) was added for leaching to obtain a nickel and iron salt solution, where a solid-to-liquid ratio of the ferronickel powder to the mixed acid was 1:10.0 g/ml; a pH of the nickel and iron salt solution was adjusted with 0.20 mol/L sodium hydroxide to 2.7 to obtain an iron hydroxide precipitate and then to 7.4 to obtain a nickel hydroxide precipitate, and a dilute alkali was added correspondingly for purification to obtain iron hydroxide and nickel hydroxide, separately; and the iron hydroxide and the nickel hydroxide were dried and stored.

[0054] (2) 4.73 mol of the iron hydroxide was dissolved in 4.2 L of 0.60 mol/L sulfuric acid, 9.50 mol of an iron powder was added to conduct reduction under stirring, and then 3.5 L of 1.0 mol/L phosphoric acid was added to obtain a ferrous phosphate precipitate; and the ferrous phosphate precipitate was separated out, purified, dried, and subjected to an anti-oxidation treatment.

[0055] (3) 120 g of an ultrafine sodium carbonate powder was placed in a high-temperature-resistant container, and then the container was transferred into a closed heating device; gaseous acetaldehyde was continuously introduced for 12 min in an argon atmosphere, and the reaction system was kept at 630 C. for 8 h and 14 min; and a reaction product was cooled, washed, filtered out, and dried to obtain a Na.sub.2CO3/C layered carbon material.

[0056] (4) Synthesis of high-nickel layered carbon-doped NaFeNiPO.sub.4: 1.37 mol of sodium hydroxide, 34 g of Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/C, 1.37 mol of ferrous phosphate, 0.41 mol of nickel hydroxide, and 240 mL of PEO were mixed in an argon atmosphere, then ball-milled for 6.0 h, and washed and dried to remove the dispersing agent; and a resulting reaction system was subjected to a reaction at 580 C. for 110 min in a microwave reactor filled with argon, and then cooled to obtain the high-nickel layered carbon-doped sodium iron phosphate (Na.sub.2CO.sub.3/CNaFeNiPO.sub.4) cathode material.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 1

[0057] A NaFePO.sub.4 cathode material was prepared in this comparative example, and a specific preparation process was as follows:

[0058] (1) Ferronickel was crushed and ground into a ferronickel powder, and a mixed acid (phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid in a volume ratio of 30:30, H.sup.+: about 14.5 mol/L) was added for leaching to obtain a nickel and iron salt solution, where a solid-to-liquid ratio of the ferronickel powder to the mixed acid was 1:8.5 g/ml; a pH of the nickel and iron salt solution was adjusted with 0.050 mol/L sodium hydroxide to 2.4 to obtain an iron hydroxide precipitate, and then a dilute alkali was added for purification to obtain iron hydroxide; and the iron hydroxide was separated, dried, and stored.

[0059] (2) 3.85 mol of the iron hydroxide was dissolved in 3.0 L of 0.30 mol/L sulfuric acid, 8.4 mol of an iron powder was added to conduct reduction under stirring, and then 3.5 L of 1.21 mol/L phosphoric acid was added to obtain a ferrous phosphate precipitate; and the ferrous phosphate precipitate was separated out, purified, dried, and subjected to an anti-oxidation treatment.

[0060] (3) Synthesis of NaFePO.sub.4: 1.23 mol of sodium citrate, 0.61 mol of ferrous phosphate, and 150 mL of PEO were mixed in an argon atmosphere, then ball-milled for 6.0 h, and washed and dried to remove the PEO; and a resulting reaction system was subjected to a reaction at 690 C. for 9 h and 41 min in an argon atmosphere, and then cooled to obtain the sodium iron phosphate (NaFePO.sub.4) cathode material.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE 2

[0061] A NaFePO.sub.4 cathode material was prepared in this comparative example, and a specific preparation process was as follows:

[0062] (1) Ferronickel was crushed and ground into a ferronickel powder, and a mixed acid (phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid in a volume ratio of 30:30, H.sup.+:about 14.5 mol/L) was added for leaching to obtain a nickel and iron salt solution, where a solid-to-liquid ratio of the ferronickel powder to the mixed acid was 1:8.5 g/ml; a pH of the nickel and iron salt solution was adjusted with 0.050 mol/L sodium hydroxide to 2.4 to obtain an iron hydroxide precipitate, and then a dilute alkali was added for purification to obtain iron hydroxide; and the iron hydroxide was separated, dried, and stored. (2) 3.85 mol of the iron hydroxide was dissolved in 3.4 L of 0.30 mol/L sulfuric acid, 8.4 mol of an iron powder was added to conduct reduction under stirring, and then 3.5 L of 1.21 mol/L phosphoric acid was added to obtain a ferrous phosphate precipitate; and the ferrous phosphate precipitate was separated out, purified, dried, and subjected to an anti-oxidation treatment.

[0063] (3) Synthesis of NaFePO.sub.4:1.20 mol of sodium hydroxide, 1.20 mol of ferrous phosphate, and 160 mL of PEO were mixed in an argon atmosphere, then ball-milled for 6.5 h, and washed and dried to remove the PEO; and a resulting reaction system was subjected to a reaction at 740 C. for 6 h and 50 min in an argon atmosphere, and then cooled to obtain the sodium iron phosphate (NaFePO4) cathode material.

[0064] TEST EXAMPLE

[0065] Each of the cathode materials in Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Examples 1 to 2, a carbon black conductive additive, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) were mixed in a mass ratio of 70:20:10 and dissolved in deionized water to obtain a slurry, then the slurry was coated on a current collector to form an electrode sheet, and the electrode sheet was dried at 65 C. for 10 h in a drying oven. A sodium sheet was adopted as a counter electrode, a 1.2 mol/L NaC104-propylene carbonate (PC) system was adopted as an electrolyte, and Celgard 2400 was adopted as a separator. The above components were assembled into a battery in a vacuum glove box under an argon atmosphere. The cycling performance was tested with an electrochemical workstation at a current density of 250 mA g.sup.1, a charge-discharge interval of 2.25 V to 3.0 V, and a rate of 0.5 C, and results were shown in Table 1 and FIG. 2.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Specific discharge capacity Coulombic efficiency (mAh .Math. g.sup.1) (%) 1st 30th 200th 1st 30th 200th Sample cycle cycle cycle cycle cycle cycle Example 1 106.8 88.6 80.6 58.1 86.4 99.6 Example 2 114.3 103.9 86.7 60.8 92.5 99.4 Example 3 108.7 94.2 81.8 59.4 89.7 99.5 Example 4 116.4 106.7 87.5 63.6 93.4 99.6 Comparative 86.3 73.1 62.3 53.2 81.8 99.2 Example 1 Comparative 87.9 72.4 60.3 53.5 82.3 99.3 Example 2

[0066] It can be seen from Table 1 that the layered carbon-doped NaFePO.sub.4 cathode materials of the examples show higher specific discharge capacity and cycling stability than the NaFePO.sub.4 cathode materials prepared in the comparative examples, indicating that the layered carbon-doped NaFePO.sub.4 cathode material can reduce a diffusion distance of sodium ions and increase a transmission rate of sodium ions during charge and discharge of a battery, which improves the phase transition of sodium ions in a sodium ion deintercalation process, increases the specific discharge capacity, and enhances the cycling stability of the sodium iron phosphate crystal structure. In addition, among the four examples, Example 4 has the highest specific discharge capacity, which is due to the introduction of nickel in Example 4 and the use of microwave heating for synthesis. The doping site and the space charge compensation effect of nickel significantly improve the bonding energy and stability of the lattice cycling structure of the layered carbon-doped NaFePO.sub.4 cathode material, thereby improving the lattice cycling stability of the layered carbon-doped NaFePO.sub.4 cathode material. Due to the characteristics of uniform heating, easy temperature control, and high heating rate, the microwave heating can easily promote the rapid heating, shorten the synthesis time, reduce the synthesis temperature, and lead to few intercrystalline defects during the process of synthesizing the layered carbon-doped NaFePO.sub.4 system. Compared with a material synthesized with an ordinary heating device, the cathode material synthesized through microwave heating shows improved specific discharge capacity and cycling stability.

[0067] The present disclosure is described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples, but the present disclosure is not limited to the above examples. Within the scope of knowledge possessed by those of ordinary skill in the technical field, various changes can also be made without departing from the purpose of the present disclosure. In addition, the examples in the present disclosure and features in the examples may be combined with each other in a non-conflicting situation.