LiV3O8 as an intercalation-type cathode for aqueous aluminum-ion batteries

Aluminum-ion batteries (AIBs) that operate with aqueous electrolytes exhibit considerably low cycling stabilities and rate properties owing to slow Al3+ diffusion kinetics. More importantly, AIB progress has been hindered by the lack of cathode materials capable of hosting Al3+. Recently, vanadium-based layered electrodes are potential storage hosts for multivalent charge carriers, including Al3+, Zn2+, Mn2+, and Ca2+. Thus, in this study, we examined the electrochemical Al3+-storage capabilities of LiV3O8 as a layered vanadium-based AIB cathode material. Though the LVO cathode supplied a high specific capacity (289 mA h g−1), the continual cycling capability (22.7% loss after 500 cycles at 0.59C (1C = 838 mA h g−1)) is slightly affected due to the structural deterioration associated with the high charge density of Al3+ ions. Furthermore, the shortfall in the Al3+ storage ability is examined using the ex situ XRD, XPS, SEM, and TEM studies. The research outcomes depict the difficulties associated with the Al3+ (de)intercalation in the layered type cathode, which can act as a likely reference for developing an optimized intercalation type cathode with stable cycle life for aqueous AIBs.