Carbon-coated V2O5 nanoparticles with enhanced electrochemical performance as a cathode material for lithium ion batteries

Abstract Vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) is a promising cathode material for high energy Li-ion batteries (LIBs), because of its low cost, abundance, and high theoretical capacity. V 2 O 5 has a theoretical capacity of 294 mA h g −1 at 2.0–4.0 V and 441 mA h g −1 at 1.5–4.0 V, corresponding to redox reactions with two and three lithium ions, respectively. However, V 2 O 5 has disadvantages of low electrical conductivity and slow lithium ion diffusion, resulting in poor cycling stability and rate capability. In this study, carbon-coated V 2 O 5 is synthesized by impregnating the aqueous V 2 O 5 precursor ((NH 4 ) 2 [VO(C 2 O 4 ) 2 ]) into the pores of a carbon foam, and controlled thermal treatment under an inert atmosphere in a facile and scalable method. The carbon-coated V 2 O 5 shows enhanced cycling stability and rate capability compared to nano-sized V 2 O 5 .