Abstract:
Global warming, today, is real. The excessive usage of fossil fuels for energy production has largely contributed to this global warming. Among others, the transportation industry is one of the major contributors via exhaust fumes. Further, considering technological advancement and future energy generation and consumptions perspectives for transportations, electric vehicles seem to be a promising option to help curb the emission of these fumes. In electrical vehicles, batteries are the main component of electric vehicles that store energy. The batteries currently in use are Lithium ions batteries (LiBs). A typical LiB consists of a cathode, an anode, and the electrolyte. Although all the components are important, it is the cathode that plays a decisive role in deciding the storage capacity of a battery. LiCoO2 was the first commercial cathode material to be used in LiBs but it had high cost and safety issues. Hence, there is a need to develop efficient and cost-effective alternative materials to address these issues. Lithium vanadium phosphates (Li3V2(PO4)3) has emerged as a good option for a cathode material due to their attractive electrochemical properties, including high specific energy, high working voltage, good cycle stability, and low price. Therefore, we have synthesized various Li3V2(PO4)3 structures using hydro-solvothermal methods. Further, molybdenum doping to Li3V2(PO4)3 was also studied to see what effect it has on conductivity and energy density of the material. The synthesized materials were characterization using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), SEM, EDS and thermogravimetric analysis(TGA), that confirmed a structural change from crystalline to less crystalline, however, with improved energy density and stability of the materials in comparison to the pristine lithium vanadium phosphates.
