The general synthesis and characterization of rare earth orthovanadate nanocrystals and their electrochemical applications

초록

We report a novel, simple synthetic route to uniform and highly crystalline rare earth orthovanadate (LnVO4, Ln = Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Er, or Y) nanocrystals prepared through the reaction between Ln(III)-acetate and a vanadyl sulfate aqueous solution in xylene in the presence of surfactants. In the presented synthesis, vanadyl sulfate was introduced as a new vanadate source to control the reaction rate, thus leading to formation of highly crystalline LnVO4 nanocrystals in a mild reaction condition. By changing the Ln source from Ce to Er, the morphology of the LnVO4 nanocrystals could be easily controlled from long nanorods to short nanorods and nanodisks. The synthesized LnVO4 nanocrystals exhibited good cycling stability and a high rate capability at various current densities when used as electrode materials for Li-ion battery.

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