Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
Recent experiments show that nanosized olivine LiFePO4 has different phase transition and solubility behavior than that of larger cathode particles. The possibility of metastable or globally stable amorphous phase in nanosized LiFePO4 particles during delithiation is considered in a diffuse-interface model. At a small enough particle size, a lithiated crystalline phase can undergo amorphization upon charging instead of transforming directly to the delithiated crystalline phase at nanoscale particle sizes.