Mapping polaronic states and lithiation gradients in individual V2O5 nanowires. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The rapid insertion and extraction of Li ions from a cathode material is imperative for the functioning of a Li-ion battery. In many cathode materials such as LiCoO2, lithiation proceeds through solid-solution formation, whereas in other materials such as LiFePO4 lithiation/delithiation is accompanied by a phase transition between Li-rich and Li-poor phases. We demonstrate using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) that in individual nanowires of layered V2O5, lithiation gradients observed on Li-ion intercalation arise from electron localization and local structural polarization. Electrons localized on the V2O5 framework couple to local structural distortions, giving rise to small polarons that serves as a bottleneck for further Li-ion insertion. The stabilization of this polaron impedes equilibration of charge density across the nanowire and gives rise to distinctive domains. The enhancement in charge/discharge rates for this material on nanostructuring can be attributed to circumventing challenges with charge transport from polaron formation.

published proceedings

  • Nat Commun

altmetric score

  • 157.574

author list (cited authors)

  • De Jesus, L. R., Horrocks, G. A., Liang, Y., Parija, A., Jaye, C., Wangoh, L., ... Banerjee, S.

citation count

  • 93

complete list of authors

  • De Jesus, Luis R||Horrocks, Gregory A||Liang, Yufeng||Parija, Abhishek||Jaye, Cherno||Wangoh, Linda||Wang, Jian||Fischer, Daniel A||Piper, Louis FJ||Prendergast, David||Banerjee, Sarbajit

publication date

  • June 2016