Electrochemical performance of polypyrrole/silver vanadium oxide composite cathodes in lithium primary batteries

Polypyrrole (PPy)/silver vanadium oxide (SVO) composite cathode materials were synthesized by polymerizing pyrrole onto the surface of pure SVO particles. Electrochemical characterization was carried out by performing galvanostatic discharge, pulse discharge and ac-impedance experiments. The composite electrode exhibited better performance than pristine SVO in all the experiments. The composite electrodes yielded a higher discharge capacity and a better pulse discharge capability when compared to the pristine SVO electrode. The pulse discharge and ac-impedance studies indicated that PPy forms an effective conductive network on the SVO surface and thereby reduces the particle-to-particle contact resistance and facilitates the interfacial charge transfer kinetics. To determine the thermal stability of the composite cathode, galvanostatic discharge and ac-impedance experiments were performed at different temperatures. The capacity increased with temperature due to enhanced charge transfer kinetics and low mass transfer limitations. The peak capacity was obtained at 60 °C, after which the performance degraded with any further increase in temperature.