A Simple Low Temperature Synthesis of Nanostructured Vanadium Nitride for Supercapacitor Applications

Nanocrystalline vanadium nitride (VN) has been synthesized using a simple two-step procedure involving mechano-chemical reaction of V2O3 and Li3N mixture induced by high energy mechanical milling (HEMM) followed by washing in water. The crystalline VN thus synthesized has been analyzed as a supercapacitor material in aqueous media. The electrochemical mechanism and material properties influencing the supercapacitor behavior of VN have been explored. The surface properties of the nanocrystalline VN have also been studied using X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) and correlated to the electrochemical response. Stable capacitances of upto 60 F/g are reported here for nanocrystalline VN generated using the high energy mechano-chemical reaction method. Cycling induced degradation of capacitance has also been studied and the possible degradation mechanisms have been discussed. (C) 2013 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.