A CTAB-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of VO2(B) nanostructures for lithium-ion battery application

Nanostructured VO2(B) was synthesized via a combined hydrothermal method using V2O5 as a source material and oxalic acid powder as a reductant. Especially, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was used as template and then three different morphologies of the VO2(B): nanobelts, nanoflowers and nanoflakes were obtained through the change of the experimental conditions. The morphology and crystalline structure of the prepared products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Furthermore, the electrochemical charge–discharge cycling properties of the VO2(B) nanostructures in lithium-ion battery were investigated. The results indicated that the belt-like, flower-like and flake-like VO2(B) nanostructures have the initial specific discharge capacity of 205.2, 254.0 and 56.0 mA h g−1, and that the morphology of VO2(B) nanostructures can deeply affect the service performance of batteries. According to the experiments, this CTAB-assisted hydrothermal method provides an insight into the preparation and application of nanostructured VO2(B) as cathode material in lithium-ion battery.