Cerium vanadate nanoparticles as a new anode material for lithium ion batteries

The most commonly used anode materials for lithium-ion batteries rely on graphite which bears the disadvantage that lithium dendrites may form because of the relatively low Li-insertion potentials. To avoid lithium dendrite formation, the ideal negative electrodes for forthcoming lithium-ion battery applications require a charge/discharge potential of similar to 1 V versus Li+/Li for safety concerns. Here, we report on the use of the hydrothermally prepared tetragonal CeVO4 as a new anode material for LIBs. The potentials of reversible lithium insertion for the CeVO4 anode are about 1.0 and 1.5 V versus Li+/Li, and the capacity of the material is 210 mA h g(-1) after 50 cycles at a current density of 10 mA g(-1). The Li-ion insertion and extraction mechanism of CeVO4 has been elucidated on the basis of cyclic voltammetry and in situ X-ray diffraction investigations. A two-step reduction of V3+ to V2+ and V2+ to V+ is observed for the lithium insertion during the discharge process of the material, whereas the oxidation of V+ to V2+ and V2+ to V3+ is found to be fully reversible for the lithium extraction during the charge process.