Al/Ga co-doped V6O13 nanorods with high discharge specific capacity as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Element doping has been proven to be one of the effective means to improve the electrical transport performance of materials due to the introduction of impurity levels. In this work, Al/Ga co-doped V6O13 nanorods were prepared via a particularly simple solvothermal method. Al/Ga co-doping delivers an extraordinary compelling advantage that can expand the cell volume as well as introduce oxygen vacancies, which can effectively improve the electrochemical performance of the battery. On the hand, Al/Ga co-doped V6O13 presents a uniform rod-like structure with a diameter of about 100-300 nm and a length of micrometers. On the other hand, when it was used as a cathode electrode material for lithium ion batteries, the Al/Ga co-doped V6O13 nanorod exhibited an initial capacity of 411.5 mAh/g at 0.1C, higher than pure phase V6O13 with capacity of 286.4 mAh/g. Noted that the capacity retention rate of Al/Ga co-doped V6O13 nanorods reached 64.4% after 100 cycles at 1C, which is more than twice that of pure phase V6O13. Al/Ga double ion doping provides an insight that better enhance the electrical transport properties of materials.