Galvanostatic cycling of vanadium oxide (V 6O 13) in a nonaqueous secondary lithium cell

Abstract

The galvanostatic cycling of Li(Al)-V 6O 13 cells in 1M LiAsF 6/propylene carbonate (PC)-acetonitrile (AN) and 1M LiAsF 6/PC electrolytes is reported. The discharge capacity and voltage of the Li(Al)-V 6O 13 cell were shown to be consistently higher than those of the corresponding Li(Al)-TiS 2 cell. Discharge rates of 1.2, 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 mA cm −2 with active material utilisations of 20 – 60% were obtained from the Li(Al)-V 6O 13 cell. The addition of fresh PC-AN electrolyte resulted in an improvement in cell capacity, but did not stop capacity decline on cycling. Cycle life of Li(Al)-V 6O 13 cells was normally less than 50 cycles. It was also found that exposure of the V 6O 13 electrode to moist air reduced the OCV and the discharge capacity of the cell. Short circuiting and complete discharge of the cell resulted in lower capacity and this may have been due to some degree of irreversible reduction of the V 6O 13.