As a novel carbon source, polyethylene glycol (PEG; mean molecular weight of 10,000) was adopted to prepare LiFePO 4 –C cathode material by a very simple soft chemistry method, which was called rheological phase reaction by us. X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveal that the crystallized LiFePO 4 powder can be synthesized easily by rheological phase reaction at a relative low temperature (400°C). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results indicate that after the decomposition of PEG, active material and porous structure carbon were left in the resultant products. An initial discharge capacity of 162 and 139mAhg −1 was achieved for 500°C sample at room temperature with C rates of 0.06C (10mAg −1 ) and 1C (170mAg −1 ), respectively. The satisfactory initial discharge capacity and superior rate capacity should attribute to the porous conductive carbon structure and the soft synthesis process.