Reserve lithium-ion batteries: Deciphering in situ lithiation of lithium-ion free vanadium pentoxide cathode with graphitic anode

One of the major challenges in development of next-generation lithium-ion batteries is the discrepancy in the capacity between electrodes. Vanadium pentoxide is recognized as a potential candidate for cathode owing to attractively high theoretical capacity. Due to the lack of Li+ ions in its crystal lattice, V2O5 has always remained far away from practical realization. Various strategies viz., pre-lithiation, blended cathodes have been studied for Li+ ion free cathodes with no commercial interests. We report the development of reserve lithium-ion batteries (RLIBs) for Li+ ion free V2O5 cathode with graphitic anode, which delivered a high charge capacity of 264 mAh g−1, attained by the in situ lithiation process. Through the different operational modes of RLIB, V2O5 cathode's intrinsic voltage characteristics with MCMB anode were achieved during the full-cell cycling studies. The mechanistic elucidation of RLIBs has been conducted using impedance spectroscopy and boundary conditions of Fick's law of diffusion could be observed in the different modes. Pouch cell configuration exhibited stable cycling performance for 300 cycles at 0.5C rate. The development of the RLIBs offers the potential to unlock the usage of various Li+ ion free cathodes viz., vanadium oxides, sulfur, FeS2, MnO2, etc. for the realization of high capacity and energy-dense applications.