Electrochemical and structural properties of MoO3-V2O5 nanocomposite thin film electrodes for lithium rechargeable batteries

We have investigated the electrochemical properties of V2O5-based thin film electrodes as a function of the amount of MoO3 by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD results show that the V2O5-based thin film electrodes give an amorphous characteristic. XPS results reveal the formation of V2O5 and MoO3 phases. TEM results show that MoO3 dots (5-30 nm in size) are embedded in the amorphous V2O5 matrix. It is further shown that cells fabricated with the MoO3-V2O5 nanocomposite thin film electrodes give better cycling performance than those made with the single V2O5 thin film electrodes. A possible explanation for the MoO3 nano-dot dependence on the cycling performance of the V2O5-based thin film electrodes is described.