Large-scale carambola-like V2O5 nanoflowers arrays on microporous reed carbon as improved electrochemical performances lithium-ion batteries cathode

Abstract To search for new cathode materials with high energy density of Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is one of the most challenging issues. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) with high theoretical specific capacity is believed to be a promising candidate for the next generation cathode materials, yet still suffers from low lithium ion diffusion coefficient and poor electronic conductivity resulting in low cycling life and poor rate performances. Here, we report new large-scale carambola-like V2O5 nanoflowers arrays anchored on microporous reed carbon as high performances LIBs cathode. Each individual pore space of the microporous reed carbon is like a hexagonal cylinder, and the area of each carbon wall is more than 103 um2, which is favorable for the growth of V2O5 nanostructure arrays. After hydrothermal, the large-scale carambola-like V2O5 nanoflowers arrays can directly grow on the surface of microporous carbon. Due to the novel composite structures, the V2O5 nanoflowers arrays@microporous carbon stabilizes at 273 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.2 C. When cycling at 1.0 C over 500 cycles, the capacity still maintains at 180 mAh g−1. The demonstrated approach in this work paves the way for the development of high rate capability and excellent cycling stability V2O5-based cathode materials.