Electrochemical and structural properties of MoO3–V2O5 nanocomposite thin film electrodes for lithium rechargeable batteries

We have investigated the electrochemical properties of V2O5-based thin film electrodes as a function of the amount of MoO3 by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD results show that the V2O5-based thin film electrodes give an amorphous characteristic. XPS results reveal the formation of V2O5 and MoO3 phases. TEM results show that MoO3 dots (5–30 nm in size) are embedded in the amorphous V2O5 matrix. It is further shown that cells fabricated with the MoO3–V2O5 nanocomposite thin film electrodes give better cycling performance than those made with the single V2O5 thin film electrodes. A possible explanation for the MoO3 nano-dot dependence on the cycling performance of the V2O5-based thin film electrodes is described.