Electrochemical Lithium Intercalation/Deintercalation of Single-Crystalline V[sub 2]O[sub 5] Nanowires

This paper reports on the electrochemical lithium intercalation/deintercalation of single-crystalline V 2 O 5 nanowires that were synthesized by a two-step approach including a hydrothermal process and a post-calcinating treatment. Techniques of X-ray diffraction, field-effect scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the structure, morphology, and composition of the as-prepared nanowires. It was found that V 2 O 5 nanowires were of high purity with the diameter of 50 – 200 nm and the length up to 100 μ m . The electrochemical lithium intercalation/deintercalation of the V 2 O 5 nanowires was investigated by cyclic voltammograms and galvanostatic charge-discharge methods. The results showed that the single-crystalline V 2 O 5 nanowires exhibited high initial discharge capacity of 351 mAh g − 1 , indicating their potential application as the cathode materials of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.