Optimization of the vanadium oxide (V 6O 13) electrode in a nonaqueous secondary lithium cell

Abstract

The V 6O 13 electrode was tested in a nonaqueous lithium cell using 1M LiAsF 6 in propylene carbonate- acetonitrile mixture as the electrolyte. It was shown that incorporation of acetylene black in the V 6O 13 electrodes improved cell performance in terms of active material utilisation. Also, cells using hydrophilic microporous polypropylene separators, e.g., Celgard 5511 and 3501, displayed less resistive losses enabling larger charge/discharge rates to be used. Voltage changes in the cell were shown to be controlled almost entirely by the V 6O 13 electrode. Analysis of the exhausted V 6O 13 electrodes showed that they contained at least 4 moles of lithium per mole of V 6O 13.