Raman microspectrometry study of electrochemical lithium intercalation into sputtered crystalline V2O5 thin films

Raman microspectrometry has been used to investigate the local structural changes induced by the electrochemical lithium intercalation reaction in crystalline sputtered V2O5 thin films in a liquid electrolyte. Contrary to usual composite electrodes made of a mixture of active material and conductive and binding agents. the use of a pure V2O5 thin film allows a homogeneous Li insertion in the material and a high quality of Raman signatures to be obtained. The Raman spectra of LixV2O5 compounds for 0 < x <1 are examined as a function of the lithium content and discussed in relation with the X-ray diffraction data pertinent to these h00-oriented thin films and literature data. An assignment of all Raman bands is proposed, and the Raman fingerprint of the E-type phase, whose interlayer distance continuously increases with x, is clearly evidenced all along the Li insertion process: lithium ions rapidly produce an orthorhombic E phase characterized by a vanadyl stretching mode at 984 cm(-1) for 0 < x < 0.5, and further Li accommodation induces a splitting into two stretching modes, the first one shifting from 984 to 975 cm(-1), the second from x = 0.7 located at a fixed wavenumber of 957 cm Both modes are consistent with the local structure of the c lithium-rich phase called is an element of ' and reflect the existence of two different lithium sites. This work illustrates that the structural changes, in terms of long-range order and local structure, are strongly dependent on the microstructure and morphology of the material.