High-performance lithium-ion full-cell batteries based on transition metal oxides: Towards energy density of ∼ 1300 Wh kg−1

Abstract

Half-cell structure including sufficient lithium ions for theoretical studies exhibits different electrochemical performance with commercial full-cell rechargeable lithium ion batteries (LIBs) featuring moderate lithium ions. So, understanding the property correlation between half-cell and full-cell LIBs is imperative, but remains a big challenge. Herein, a series of full-cells are assembled with transition metal oxide (TMO) nanowires as cathodes and silicon/graphite (Si/G) anode via electrochemical pre-lithiation, to figure out the key determinants in comparison to their corresponding half-cells. It is found that eletrochemical performances of half-cell and full-cell batteries are basically consistent by using insertion-type cathodes of V2O5, MoO3 and MnO2, but different in the cases of conversion-type cathodes of Fe2O3 and Co3O4 due to their high polarization relieved crystal fragmentation. In addition, compared with the other five materials, V2O5 nanowire exhibits the lowest charge transfer resistance (240.2 Ω), highest lithium ion diffusion rate (10-13 ∼ 10-11 cm2 s−1) and discharge midpoint voltage (1.6 V). Thus, V2O5||PL-Si/G achieves the state-of-the-art gravimetric energy density, discharge midpoint voltage and cycle performance, giving rise to the record-high 1288 Wh kg−1 at 0.1 A g-1 in potential range of 0.3 ∼ 4.0 V. These results indicate the significance of rational material selection and effective pre-lithiation for developing high-performance full-cell LIBs.