In situ SEM Study of Lithium Intercalation in individual V2O5 Nanowires

Published

February 5, 2015

Author(s)

Evgheni Strelcov, Joshua Cothren, Donovan Leonard, Albina Y. Borisevich, Andrei Kolmakov

Abstract

Progress in rational engineering of Li-ion batteries requires better understanding of the electrochemical processes and accompanying transformations in the electrode materials on multiple length scales. In spite of recent progress in transmission electron microscopy (TEM), in situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was mostly overlooked as a powerful tool that allows probing these phenomena on the nano and mesoscale. Here we report on in situ SEM study of lithiation in a V2O5-based single-nanobelt battery with ionic liquid electrolyte. Coupled with cycled voltammetry measurements, it revealed the peculiarities of subsurface intercalation, formation of solid-electrolyte interface (SEI) and electromigration of liquid. We observed that single-crystalline vanadia nanobelts do not undergo amorphization or fracture, but rather transform topochemically with only a slight shape distortion. SEI layer seems to have significant influence on the lithium ion diffusion and overall capacity of the single-nanobelt battery.

Citation

Nanoscale

Volume

7

Issue

7

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1039/C4NR06767C

Local Download

Keywords

V2O5 nanowires, lithiation, in situ SEM, ionic liquid

Citation

Strelcov, E. , Cothren, J. , Leonard, D. , Borisevich, A. and Kolmakov, A. (2015), In situ SEM Study of Lithium Intercalation in individual V2O5 Nanowires, Nanoscale, [online], https://doi.org/10.1039/C4NR06767C, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=917311 (Accessed November 7, 2025)