Electronic structure of Li-inserted V6O13 battery cathodes: Rigid band behavior and effects of hybridization

Abstract

Resonant soft x-ray emission (SXE) spectroscopy was used to study the electronic structure of LixV6O13 battery cathodes. We observe that the V 3d-bands of V6O13 exhibit a rather rigid behavior. Upon lithiation, electrons enter the top of the valence band and add intensity to the corresponding part of the V L-emission spectrum without significantly distorting the lower lying bands. We perform ab initio calculations which are in good agreement with the experimental results. Moreover, we find that lithiation leads to an overall decrease of the V 3d–O 2p hybridization. In contrast to x-ray diffraction, it is possible to study charge transfer effects in Li-batteries with SXE spectroscopy over the entire lithiation range.