Enhancing cyclability and rate performance of Li2MoO4 by carbon coating

• Li2MoO4 is successfully prepared by a thermal polymerization method.
• Polyvinyl alcohol is a good carbon source for particle coating.
• Carbon coating improves cycle and rate performances of Li2MoO4.

High capacity anode material Li2MoO4 powders with and without carbon coating are successfully synthesized via a thermal polymerization method. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy are employed to analyze their structures. Galvanostatic cell cycling is used to compare their electrochemical properties. The carbon-coated Li2MoO4 can deliver charge capacities of 669 mAh g−1 and 255 mAh g−1 at current densities of 90 mA g−1 and 1800 mA g−1, respectively, exhibiting much better electrochemical performance than the carbon-free Li2MoO4.