Formation of Li2O in a chemically Li-intercalated V2O5 xerogel

We studied the electronic structure of a chemically Li-intercalated V2O5 xerogel. The technique used in the study was V 2p and O 1s X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The V ions in the as-prepared V2O5 xerogel are mostly in a pentavalent V5+ state. The spectra show that the V ions are partially reduced to V4+ and V3+ states upon Li intercalation. The results also show that low Li intercalation (x<1) affects mostly O 2p–V 3d mixed states, whereas for higher Li intercalation (x>1), this mechanism saturates and leads to Li2O formation.