Study of the pH effect on the properties of the hydrothermally grown V2O5

• Low temperature and free of templates grown electroactive V2O5 coatings
• Electrochemical properties are dependent on the pH.
• Continuous and adhesive coatings with high crystalline quality

Vanadium pentoxide coatings were prepared by hydrothermal process at a temperature as low as 95 °C. It was demonstrated that the structure and morphology of the coatings depend on the pH solution employed during growth. Only for pH 3.5, adhesive coating growth was observed, with a substantial enhancement in the electrochemical performance in terms of charge density magnitude. The amount of lithium charge interchanged between the vanadium pentoxide and the electrolyte reached 220 mC cm− 2. This is a value among the best reported for low temperature growth and free of templates pentoxide with a prolonged stability up to 250 continuous charge intercalation/deintercalation scans.