In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy Studies Investigating Intercalation of Multivalent Ions into V2O5 Nanowire Cathode

Over the last few years, energy storage has been an important area of research, due to the wide application of batteries from portable consumer electronics, wireless communication systems to various applications in hybrid electric vehicles. Li ion batteries have been largely used for these applications but they suffer from several key disadvantages, including the deterioration of cell capacity over time, safety concerns due to the highly reactive nature of Li metal, and high cost of the cell materials. Batteries based on multivalent elements such as aluminum, magnesium or calcium can theoretically provide higher energy densities and might be safer and cheaper to produce. Research is underway to determine a suitable cathode and electrolyte for these multivalent materials. V₂O₅ has attracted attention as a possible cathode host due to the layered structure and considerable success with Li ions.[1] Several first principle studies have indicated that V₂O₅could be a suitable host for Mg intercalation. [2]

In this talk, I will present results of in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments using a special electrochemical holder and an open cell battery setup to investigate the intercalation of multi-valent ions into V₂O₅ nanowires. A similar setup has yielded good results for Li ion batteries [3] and will therefore be employed for the multivalent cathode materials. Figure 1 shows V₂O₅ nanowire and electron diffraction patterns both before and after attempted intercalation of Al while Figure 2 shows V₂O₅ nanowire and electron diffraction patterns both before and after attempts to intercalate Ca. The effects of bias application and the stability of the ionic liquid electrolytes under the electron beam will be explored. Finally, in-operando TEM using an electrochemical liquid cells will be tried using the appropriate electrolyte and cathode configuration. [4][5]

References:

[1]Candace K Chan, Hailin Peng, Ray D Twesten, Konrad Jarausch,Xiao Feng Zhang,| and Yi Cui,  Fast, Completely Reversible Li Insertion in Vanadium Pentoxide Nanoribbons, Nano Letters,2007

[2] Zhiguo Wang, Qiulei Sub and Huiqiu Deng, Single-layered V2O5 a promising cathode material for rechargeable Li and Mg ion batteries: an ab initio study, PCCP Communication,2013

[3] Anmin Nie, Li-Yong Gan, Yingchun Cheng, Hasti Asayesh-Ardakani, Qianqian Li, Cezhou Dong, RunzheTao, Farzad Mashayek, Hong-TaoWang, Udo Schwingenschlogl, Robert F. Klie, and Reza S.Yassar, Atomic-Scale Observation of Lithiation Reaction Front in Nanoscale SnO2 Materials, ACS Nano, 2013

[4] Meng Gu, Lucas R. Parent, B. Layla Mehdi, Raymond R. Unocic, Matthew T. McDowell, Robert L. Sacci, Wu Xu, Justin Grant Connell, Pinghong Xu, Patricia Abellan, Xilin Chen,Yaohui Zhang, Daniel E. Perea, James E. Evans, Lincoln J. Lauhon, Ji-Guang Zhang, Jun Liu,Nigel D. Browning, Yi Cui,  Ilke Arslan, and Chong-Min Wang,  Demonstration of an Electrochemical Liquid Cell for Operando Transmission Electron Microscopy Observation of the Lithiation/Delithiation Behavior of Si Nanowire Battery Anodes,  Nano Letters, 2013

[5] This work is supported by the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences.