Structural, electrical and electrochemical studies of LiCoVO4 cathode material for lithium rechargeable batteries

The lithium cobalt vanadate (LiCoVO4) cathode material has been synthesized by sol–gel method. Rietveld refinement analysis of powder X-ray diffraction pattern confirmed that the prepared LiCoVO4 crystalline sample had a cubic structure and showed no evidence of secondary phase peaks. FESEM and TEM images of LiCoVO4 identified that the particle ranged from 1 μm to 200 nm. The XPS results showed that the oxidation states of cobalt and vanadium was + 3 and +5, respectively. The conductivity is found to be 1.16 × 10− 5 S cm− 1 at 60 °C. The variation of σDC with temperature indicates that electrical conduction in the material is a thermally activated process. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) studies performed on the synthesized LiCoVO4 cathode revealed the reversibility and structural stability during cycling.