Vanadium Oxide Thin Film Formation on Graphene Oxide by Microexplosive Decomposition of Ammonium Peroxovanadate and Its Application as a Sodium Ion Battery Anode

Formation of vanadium oxide nanofilm-coated graphene oxide (GO) is achieved by thermally induced explosive disintegration of a microcrystalline ammonium peroxovanadate–GO composite. GO sheets isolate the microcrystalline grains and capture and contain the microexplosion products, resulting in the deposition of the nanoscale products on the GO. Thermal treatment of the supported nanofilm yields a sequence of nanocrystalline phases of vanadium oxide (V3O7, VO2) as a function of temperature. This is the first demonstration of microexplosive disintegration of a crystalline peroxo compound to yield a nanocoating. The large number of recently reported peroxide-rich crystalline materials suggests that the process can be a useful general route for nanofilm formation. The V3O7@GO composite product was tested as a sodium ion battery anode and showed high charge capacity at high rate charge–discharge cycling (150 mAh g–1 at 3000 mA g–1 vs 300 mAh g–1 at 100 mA g–1) due to the nanomorphology of the vanadium oxide.