Olivine Positive Electrodes for Li-Ion Batteries: Status and Perspectives

Among the compounds of the olivine family, LiMPO4 with M = Fe, Mn, Ni, or Co, only LiFePO4 is currently used as the active element of positive electrodes in lithium-ion batteries. However, intensive research devoted to other elements of the family has recently been successful in significantly improving their electrochemical performance, so that some of them are now promising for application in the battery industry and outperform LiFePO4 in terms of energy density, a key parameter for use in electric vehicles in particular. The purpose of this review is to acknowledge the current state of the art and the progress that has been made recently on all the elements of the family and their solid solutions. We also discuss the results from the perspective of their potential application in the industry of Li-ion batteries.