Electrochemical properties of porous V2O5/Sulfur/Carbon composite electrode prepared using a combination of aerosol and powder technologies

Porous nanostructured vanadium pentoxide (PN-V205) prepared by a novel spray pyrolysis was used to synthesize sulfur/carbon/PN- V2O5 (S/C/PN-V2O5) composite through heat treatment and the effect of heat treatment parameters (e.g. heat treatment temperature and heat treatment time) and porous structure of V2O5 on physical and electrochemical properties of S/C/PN-V2O5 composites were investigated. The X-Ray Diffraction results reveal that higher heat treatment temperature of 200 °C or long heat treatment time (10 h) can promote the chemical reactions between S and V2O5. The Energy Dispersive Spectrometer images of the S/C/PN-V205 composite heat treated at 160 °C for 2 h demonstrated a generally good distribution of three components. The cross-sectional SEM images and elemental mapping analysis revealed the partial penetration of S into PN-V205. The electrochemical performance indicated the S/C/PN-V2O5 electrode displayed a discharge capacity of 666 mAh g-1 after 50 cycles which was higher than that of S/C electrode (379 mAh g-1).