Storage of Lithium-Ion by Phase Engineered MoO(3) Homojunctions

With high theoretical specific capacity, the low-cost MoO(3) is known to be a promising anode for lithium-ion batteries. However, low electronic conductivity and sluggish reaction kinetics have limited its ability for lithium ion storage. To improve this, the phase engineering approach is used to fabricate orthorhombic/monoclinic MoO(3) (α/h-MoO(3)) homojunctions. The α/h-MoO(3) is found to have excessive hetero-phase interface. This not only creates more active sites in the MoO(3) for Li(+) storage, it regulates local coordination environment and electronic structure, thus inducing a built-in electric field for boosting electron/ion transport. In using α/h-MoO(3), higher capacity (1094 mAh g(−1) at 0.1 A g(−1)) and rate performance (406 mAh g(−1) at 5.0 A g(−1)) are obtained than when using only the single phase h-MoO(3) or α-MoO(3). This work provides an option to use α/h-MoO(3) hetero-phase homojunction in LIBs.