Synthesis and properties of Li₃VO₄ - Carbon composite as negative electrode for lithium-ion battery

Lithium vanadate Li₃VO₄ (LVO) is known to be as one of the attractive candidates for negative electrode of lithium-ion battery (LIB) with high safety. Although theoretical capacity of LVO attains to 400 mAh g^-1, the actual charge and discharge capacities are far below due to its low electrical and ionic conductivity. In this study, we synthesized carbon-coated LVO (C-LVO) via one-step solid state reaction method and examined its properties as a negative electrode for LIB. From XRD measurements and SEM observation, crystal structure of C-LVO was nearly identical with non-coated one but grain size of former was much smaller than latter with same annealing temperature, suggesting that introduction of carbon source in starting materials effectively helps to suppress LVO grain growth during annealing. TEM observation of C-LVO also shows that amorphous carbon layer with its thickness of several ten nm was formed on the surface of LVO grain. In electrochemical testing, C-LVO shows much higher charge and discharge capacities than non-coated LVO.