Vanadium Pentoxide-Based Composite Synthesized Using Microwave Water Plasma for Cathode Material in Rechargeable Magnesium Batteries

Multivalent cation rechargeable batteries are expected to perform well as high-capacity storage devices. Rechargeable magnesium batteries have an advantage in terms of resource utilization and safety. Here, we report on sulfur-doped vanadium pentoxide (S-V2O5) as a potential material for the cathodes of such a battery; S-V2O5 showed a specific capacity of 300 mAh.g(-1)center dot S-V2O5 was prepared by a method using a low-temperature plasma generated by carbon felt and a 2.45 GHz microwave generator. This study investigates the ability of S-V2O5 to achieve high capacity when added to metal oxide. The highest recorded capacity (420 mAh.g(-1)) was reached with MnO2 added to composite SMn-V2O5, which has a higher proportion of included sulfur than found in S-V2O5. Results from transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Micro-Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy show that the bulk of the SMn-V2O5 was the orthorhombic V2O5 structure; the surface was a xerogel-like V2O5 and a solid solution of MnO2 and sulfur.