Ultrafine V₂O₃ Nanowire Embedded in Carbon Hybrids with Enhanced Lithium Storage Capability

Compared to other transition metal oxides, V₂O₃ with a higher conductivity has attracted intense attention in energy storage fields. To further improve its rate capability and cycling stability, we demonstrate the synthesis of carbon-encapsulated ultrafine V₂O₃ nanowires (V₂O₃@C NWs) hybrids. The optimized V₂O₃@C NWs hybrids, when applied as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), deliver a high specific capacity of 985 mA h g^–1 at 100 mA g^–1, which is higher than V₂O₃ nanoparticles (V₂O₃ NPs, 248 mA h g^–1) and even 2.6 times higher than graphite anodes. More significantly, they also exhibit remarkably enhanced rate capability (519 mA h g^–1 at 5000 mA g^–1) and long cycle life (860 mA h g^–1 at 1000 mA g^–1 after 300 cycles). Such fascinating electrochemical performance is mainly attributed to the uniform coating of carbon and their ultrafine nanostructure, which can further improve the conductivity and enrich the electrochemical active sites