The Structural Evolution of V2O5 Nanocystals during Electrochemical Cycling Studied Using In operando Synchrotron Techniques

The structural evolution of vanadium oxide (V2O5) nanocrystals was studied during Li+ ion intercalation and deintercalation (i.e. electrochemical discharge/charge) processes using in operando high-energy x-ray diffraction (HEXRD) and in operando x-ray adsorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES). The HEXRD results clearly show that V2O5 undergoes phase transformations during the first Li+ ion intercalation (i.e. discharge) process. The analysis of the XANES data suggests that the average oxidation state of vanadium in fully charged V2O5 nanocrystals decreases to less than +5 after the first four cycles. The combined results of the unchanged crystal structure (HEXRD) and the decreased oxidation state (XANES) lead to the conclusion that some of the Li+ ions are trapped within the V2O5 framework and the V2O5 exists as Li0.18V2O5 instead of pure V2O5 after the first four cycles, while the trapped Li+ ion may increase the stability of V2O5 framework.