Carbon‐Coated Li3VO4 Spheres as Constituents of an Advanced Anode Material for High‐Rate Long‐Life Lithium‐Ion Batteries

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 29; no. 33
• Main Authors: Shen, Laifa, Chen, Shuangqiang, Maier, Joachim, Yu, Yan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 06.09.2017
• Subjects: Anodes; Carbon; Coating; Electrode materials; Energy storage; Flux density; high‐power performance; Li3VO4, spheres; LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4; Lithium; Lithium-ion batteries; Materials science; Rechargeable batteries; Storage batteries; Storage systems
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201701571

Lithium‐ion batteries are receiving considerable attention for large‐scale energy‐storage systems. However, to date the current cathode/anode system cannot satisfy safety, cost, and performance requirements for such applications. Here, a lithium‐ion full battery based on the combination of a Li3VO4 anode with a LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode is reported, which displays a better performance than existing systems. Carbon‐coated Li3VO4 spheres comprising nanoscale carbon‐coating primary particles are synthesized by a morphology‐inheritance route. The observed high capacity combined with excellent sample stability and high rate capability of carbon‐coated Li3VO4 spheres is superior to other insertion anode materials. A high‐performance full lithium‐ion battery is fabricated by using the carbon‐coated Li3VO4 spheres as the anode and LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 spheres as the cathode; such a cell shows an estimated practical energy density of 205 W h kg−1 with greatly improved properties such as pronounced long‐term cyclability, and rapid charge and discharge. Advanced carbon‐coated LVO (LVO⊂C) sub‐micrometer spheres comprising nanoscale carbon‐coating primary particles are synthesized by a morphology‐inheritance route. When combined with a LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode, the rationally designed full cell demonstrates an estimated energy density of 205 W h kg−1, high‐power performances up to 20 C, and pronounced long‐term cyclability.