Electrochemistry of Nanostructured Intercalation Hosts

We have shown that: (1) Li+ ions are inserted reversibly, without diffusion control, up to the level of at least 4 moles Li+ ions per mole for V2O5, in the aerogel (ARG) form (500 m2/g specific surface area) and aerogel-like (ARG-L) form (200 m2/g specific surface area)(6,7,1,2); (2) polyvalent cations (Al+3, Mg+2, Zn+2) may be intercalated reversibly into V2O5 (ARG) with high capacity (approaching 4 equivalents/mole V2O5 (ARG)) for each (5); (3) dopant cations such as Ag+ and Cu+2 increase the conductivity of V2O5 (XRG) up to three orders of magnitude(3), they are electrochemically active - showing reduction to the metallic-state in parallel to intercalation of Li+ ions - but are not released to the electrolyte upon oxidation and Li+ ion release (Cu+2 ions are reduced to Cu metal and reoxidized to Cu+2 in Li+ ion insertion/release cycles, but the copper ions are not released to the electrolyte over more than 400 cycles of the XRG form); (4) we have shown that Cu+2 ion (dopant) and Zn+2 ions (chemical insertion and dopant) occupy the same intercalation site inV2O5 xerogel and aerogel(4); and (5) the reversible intercalation of Zn+2, Mg+2, and Al+3 in the ARG(11) indicates that these cations are 'mobile', but that Cu+2 ions and Ag+ ions are 'immobile' in the xerogel, i.e., the latter ions are not exchanged with the electrolyte in Li+ ion intercalation cycling(3).