Microwave assisted sol–gel synthesis of chlorine doped lithium vanadium phosphate

A microwave assisted sol–gel method was adapted to synthesize Cl-doped Li3V2(PO4)3/C powder. The structural, morphological and electrochemical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, Raman scattering spectroscopy, and galvanostatic charge–discharge cycling. Experimental results further show that fine Cl-doped Li3V2(PO4)3/C powder can be synthesized within 20 min under microwave heating and the Cl-doping process contributes to induce the lattice distortion, modify the particle morphology, and increase the electronic conductivity. The Cl-doped Li3V2(PO4)3/C electrode presents a high initial discharge capacity of 125.1, 117.2, 110.5, 101.4, 90.7 and 72.3 mAh g−1 at 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5 and 10C between 3.0 and 4.3 V, respectively. The improvement can be ascribed to the enhanced electronic conductivity and electrode kinetics due to the micro-structural modification promoted by Cl-doping.