Lithiated MoO2 Nanorods with Greatly Improved Electrochemical Performance for Lithium Ion Batteries

Highly uniform MoO2 nanorods were successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method, and the resultant sample was easily lithiated by subsequent treatment with LiCl solution. After lithiation, the MoO2 nanorods possessed a similar crystalline structure to the unlithiated sample. At a current density of 20 mA g–1, the lithiated specimen with better coulombic efficiency displayed a preferable cycling performance and exhibited excellent reversible charge-discharge capacity, while the unlithiated MoO2 exhibited more irreversible behavior. This conclusion was also supported by δ, the fraction loss per cycle, which was 2.5 % and 5.2 % for the lithiated and unlithiated MoO2, respectively. Finally, the XRD patterns for the lithitated and unlithiated MoO2 showed that the former retained better crystallization than the latter after a 15-cycle charge-discharge process.