Low temperature synthesis of metastable lithium ferrite: magnetic and electrochemical properties

Ultrafine P-LiFe5O8 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized at the low temperature of 140 DGC through a hydrothermal method. The average particle size is about 5 nm with a fairly narrow size distribution. The saturation magnetization (Ms), remanent magnetization (Mr), and coercivity (He) could be determined to be 25.23 emu g-1, 3.95 emu g-1, and 301 Oe, respectively. The Teflon cell using the prepared nanoparticles as active cathode material shows an initial discharge capacity of about 162 mA h g-1 . The as-prepared ultrafine beta-LiFe5O8 nanoparticles exhibit higher capacity than any other known lithium ferrites, which may be ascribed to the unique microstructure and smaller particle size achieved by the hydrothermal synthesis procedure.