Novel radial vanadium pentoxide nanobelt clusters for Li-ion batteries

•Radial V2O5 nanobelt clusters were synthesized by a novel hydrothermal process.•The V2O5 clusters are single crystallites with [0 1 0] growth direction.•Specific discharge capacity of V2O5 is 134 mA h/g coupled with good cycle stability.

This paper reports the synthesis, characterization and Li-ion intercalation properties of moundlily-like radial vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) nanobelt clusters. The V2O5 nanobelt clusters was successfully synthesized by a novel soft template assisted hydrothermal process followed by thermal annealing. The as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, FT-IR spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The obtained V2O5 possesses a single-crystalline structure with a preferred orientation along the [0 1 0] crystal plane. Electrochemical analysis shows that the specific discharge capacity of the V2O5 nanobelt clusters reaches 134 mA h/g at a current density of 2 A/g coupled with good cycle stability.

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