Chemical Lithiation Studies on Combustion Synthesized V₂O₅Cathodes with Full Cell Application for Lithium Ion Batteries

Fundamental studies on Li-intercalation into layered vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ), synthesized by urea combustion method, have been successfully carried out by chemical lithiation using butyl lithium at various concentrations. Morphological and structural changes during chemical lithiation are analyzed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements, respectively. Furthermore, chemical states and elemental concentration of these lithiated V 2 O 5 phases were elucidated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma. Electrochemical studies via potentiostatic and galvanostatic modes show that the chemically-lithiated V 2 O 5 phases undergo similar redox behavior as bare V 2 O 5 at respective discharge-states. The electrochemical studies confirmed the occurrence of various phase transformations at various levels of discharge relating to both reduction of vanadium (V 5+ ) and intercalation of lithium ions in V 2 O 5. Finally, the full-cell comprising of lithiated V 2 O 5 cathode and spinel Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 anode is demonstrated to study their compatibility toward insertion type anodes, delivering the reversible capacity of 80 mAh g −1 .