Hydrothermal synthesis, characterization, formation mechanism and electrochemical property of V3O7·H2O single-crystal nanobelts

Single-crystal V3O7·H2O nanobelts have been successfully synthesized in a large-scale by ethanol reducing of the commercial V2O5 powder via a facile hydrothermal approach, without any templates and surfactants. The as-prepared V3O7·H2O nanobelts are up to several tens of micrometers in length, about 100 nm in width and about 20 nm in thickness in average, respectively. The “Hydrating–Reducing–Exfoliating–Splitting” (HRES) mechanism was proposed to describe the formation of the V3O7·H2O nanobelts. In our research progress, it was found that the ratio of EtOH/H2O, the reaction time and categories of the reducing agents had significant effects on the morphology and composition of as-obtained products. Furthermore, the electrochemical properties of V3O7·H2O nanobelts were preformed and the results revealed that a lithium battery using those nanobelts as the positive electrode exhibited a high initial discharge capacity of 373 mAh/g.