Low-Cost Room-Temperature Synthesis of NaV3O8·1.69H2O Nanobelts for Mg Batteries.

Abstract

Potentially safe and economically feasible magnesium batteries (MBs) have attracted tremendous research attention as an alternative to high-cost and unsafe lithium ion batteries. In the current work, for the first time, we report a novel room-temperature approach to dope the atomic species sodium between the vanadium oxide crystal lattice to obtain NaV3O8·1.69H2O (NVO) nanobelts. The synthesized NVO nanobelts are used as electrode materials for MBs. The MB cells demonstrate stable discharge specific capacity of 110 mA h g-1 at a current density of 10 mA g-1 and a high cyclic stability, that is 80% capacity retention after 100 cycles, at a current density of 50 mA g-1. Moreover, the effects of cutoff voltages (ranging from 2 to 2.6 V) on their electrochemical performance were investigated. The reason for the limited specific capacity of MBs is attributed to the trapping of Mg ions inside the NVO lattices. This work opens up a new pathway to explore different electrode materials for MBs with improved electrochemical performance.