Electrochemical Lithium Insertion/Extraction in Partially Reduced α-MoO3

Abstract

Abstract This work concerns with synthesis, structural, thermal and electrochemical characterization of molybdenum oxides (stoichiometric MoO3, sub-stoichiometric oxide MoO3− x (where x is a small fraction) with layered type structure. XRD investigations of the samples proved that the crystal structure of the layered α-MoO3) has been maintained after the reduction process. The reduced samples exhibited a drastically improved charge/discharge cycling stability and capacity retention on cycling in 1 M LiClO4/propylene carbonate. At higher cycle numbers (approx. cycle 50) the discharge capacity of the reduced molybdenum oxides stabilizes at a level of approx. 50 mAh g−1, whereas the non-reduced MoO3 has retained only about 45 mAh g−1 after 20 cycles. This significant improvement of the rechargeability may be related to improvement in the electronic conductivity after reduction process.