Advanced electrochemical performance of hybrid nanocomposites based on LiFePO4 and lithium salt doped polyaniline

LiFePO4 (LFP) is one of the commercially usable cathode materials for lithium batteries. To overcome its main drawback—low conductivity—LFP particles are usually covered by carbon shell. But this approach lowers the capacity of the whole cathode due to electrochemical inactivity of the carbon shell at the required potentials. In the present work, we propose a novel approach which is based on mechanochemical insertion of LFP particles inside polyaniline doped with lithium salt. It is established that during charge–discharge of these nanocomposites, both LFP and polyaniline are redox active. It is shown that the prepared nanocomposites exhibit improved electrochemical performance as a cathode in lithium batteries compared with the individual LFP. It is shown that the presence of the polyaniline in the nanocomposite could facilitate the transport of lithium ions inside (outside) the inorganic component during discharge (charge).