Carbon-Coated Li3VO4 Spheres as Constituents of an Advanced Anode Material for High-Rate Long-Life Lithium-Ion Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries are receiving considerable attention for large-scale energy-storage systems. However, to date the current cathode/anode system cannot satisfy safety, cost, and performance requirements for such applications. Here, a lithium-ion full battery based on the combination of a Li3VO4 anode with a LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode is reported, which displays a better performance than existing systems. Carbon-coated Li3VO4 spheres comprising nanoscale carbon-coating primary particles are synthesized by a morphology-inheritance route. The observed high capacity combined with excellent sample stability and high rate capability of carbon-coated Li3VO4 spheres is superior to other insertion anode materials. A high-performance full lithium-ion battery is fabricated by using the carbon-coated Li3VO4 spheres as the anode and LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 spheres as the cathode; such a cell shows an estimated practical energy density of 205 W h kg(-1) with greatly improved properties such as pronounced long-term cyclability, and rapid charge and discharge.