Low-Temperature Synthesis of AMoO₄(A = Ca, Sr, Ba) Scheelite Nanocrystals

An extension of the vapor diffusion sol–gel method to the synthesis of the AMoO 4 (A = Ca, Sr, Ba) scheelite family of materials is reported. Sub-30 nm quasispherical nanocrystals were obtained after vapor diffusion at room temperature, followed by thermal aging at 80 °C. Rietveld analysis of X-ray diffraction data, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy demonstrated that the vapor diffusion sol–gel method affords crystalline and phase-pure AMoO 4 nanocrystals with excellent compositional control. The potential lithium storage capacity of the CaMoO 4 nanocrystals versus Li at a rate of C/4 was also investigated. The nanocrystals exhibited an extremely large first discharge capacity of 1300 mA h g –1, which stabilized at 250 mA h g –1 after 25 cycles.