(Invited) John B. Goodenough's Centenarian : Success Story of LiFePO₄ (LFP) As Cathode Material for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

Lithium-ion and solid-state battery (SSB) are now playing a central role in consumer electronic, energy storage and electric vehicles thanks to their excellent cycle life and high energy density. One of the key components that have paved the way for this success story in the past 27 years is LiFePO4 (LFP) which has served as a lithium-ion host structure for the cathode electrode. Today only LFP is used in both commercial Li-ion and SSB batteries, due their safety, low cost (cobalt free), fast charge and discharge, and over 20 years of calendar life. In this presentation, we will show the progress of the physical chemistry of the olivine compounds since the pioneering work of Prof. John B. Goodenough. This major improvement has positioned LiFePO4 as the active cathode element of a new generation of Li-ion batteries from cell to pack, hence making a breakthrough in the technology of energy storage and electric transportation. This achievement is the fruit of about 27 years of intensive research in the electrochemical community during which chemists, electrochemists, physicists, and engineers added their efforts to understand the properties of the material, to overcome the obstacles that were met on the way, and finally to reach the state of the art enabling its ubiquitous use in technology today and in the future.