Novel V2O5/S composite cathode material for the advanced secondary lithium batteries

The amorphous V2O5 (a-V2O5)/S composite cathode material was prepared by mechanical mixing with a-V2O5 gel and elemental sulfur. The main analysis tools were scanning electron microscopy, pore size distribution, charge-discharge test, electrical impedance spectroscopy and so on. The results showed that initial discharge capacity was declined for the composite cathode, which was 514 mAh g(-1), compared with elemental sulfur cathode (597 mAh g(-1)), however, it was found that the composites electrode possessed better capability of high current than that of sulfur electrode, the discharge capacity kept at 286 mAh g(-1) at 0.8 mA cm(-2) and was 55.6% of that at 0.1 mA cm(-2), but the discharge capacity of sulfur at 0.8 mA cm(-2) was only 18.8% of that at 0.1 mA cm(-2). The addition of a-V2O5 could decrease the resistance of composites electrode, leading to remarkably improve the capability of high current discharge. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.