An electrochemical investigation on (MoO3+PVP+PVA) nanobelts for lithium batteries

Molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) xerogel films modified with poly(vinyl alcohol)+poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP+PVA) polyblends were obtained by ion-exchange method with sol-gel technique. Investigations were conducted using X-ray "diffractometry", Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. The results show that the H atoms in polyblend are H-bonded with the O atoms in the Mo=O bonds of MoO3 xerogel, which effectively shield the electrostatic interaction between MoO3 interlayer and Li+ ions when MoO3 xerogel is modified by the intercalation of (PVP+PVA). The reversibility of the insertion/extraction of Li+ ions is greatly improved by the modification with polyblend of MoO3 nanocomposite films. MoO3 and (PVP+PVA)(x)MoO3 (x=0, 0.5) nanobelts were obtained by a simple hydrothermal process from MoO3 sol. The electrochemical cells with configuration Li/(LiPF6+EC+DMC)/MoO3 modified by (PVP+PVA) were fabricated and their discharge profiles studied.