An insight into the electrochemical activity of Al-doped V2O3

We design Al-doped V2O3 (AlxV2O3) compounds as cathodes of aluminium battery. A citric acid-assisted simple solid-state synthesis is used to produce AlxV2O3 compounds by heating, at different temperature, a reaction mixture of NH4VO3, Al(NO3)3centerdot9H2O and citric acid under Ar flow. Al-doping in-between layers and at lattice sites of V2O3 is confirmed by structural, vibrational and chemical analyses. The doped compounds obtained at 600 °C and 800 °C are confirmed as Al0.56V2O3 and Al0.53V2O3 corresponding to theoretical capacities 488 and 490 mAh g−1, respectively, for the extraction of doped Al by considering three electron transfer (Al/Al3+). The as-synthesized AlxV2O3 compounds are tested as cathodes in aluminium battery with 1.0 M AlCl3:[EMIM]Cl electrolyte. The electrodes of Al0.56V2O3 and Al0.53V2O3 exhibited the first charge capacity of 415 and 385 mAh g−1, respectively. The electrochemical extraction of doped Al is confirmed by comparisons with bare V2O3 control cathodes and post-cycling structural studies. The extraction of doped Al from AlxV2O3 indicates its promising use in high capacity cathode for Al-ion battery.NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore)Published versio