Single-crystal H2V3O8 nanowires: a competitive anode with large capacity for aqueous lithium-ion batteries

Single-crystal H2V3O8 nanowires with a width of similar to 50 nm were fabricated by a facile one-step hydrothermal method and SEM, TEM, TGA, XRD, XPS were used to characterize their morphology and structure details. The possibility of using this material as an anode candidate for aqueous lithium-ion batteries was investigated for the first time. CV and galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements indicated that the intercalation/deintercalation of Li+ in this material in aqueous electrolyte is highly reversible. A discharge capacity of 234 mAh g(-1) can be obtained for the synthesized H2V3O8 nanowires at the current density of 0.1 A g(-1) in aqueous solution of 5 M LiNO3 and 0.001 M LiOH, much larger than the available capacities (less than 110 mAh g(-1)) of other vanadium oxides in aqueous electrolyte. Furthermore, the H2V3O8 nanowires can be charge/discharged upon 50 cycles with nearly no capacity loss in organic electrolyte and a capacity retention over 70% in aqueous electrolyte, showing better cycle stability than other vanadium oxide predecessors for aqueous lithium-ion batteries.