Synthesis and Characterization of Magnesium Vanadates as Potential Magnesium-Ion Cathode Materials through an Ab†Initio Guided Carbothermal Reduction Approach.

ABSTRACT

Many technologically relevant materials for advanced energy storage and catalysis feature reduced transition-metal (TM) oxides that are often nontrivial to prepare because of the need to control the reducing nature of the atmosphere in which they are synthesized. Herein, we show that an ab initio predictive synthesis strategy can be used to produce multi-gram-scale products of various MgVx Oy -type phases (δ-MgV2 O5 , spinel MgV2 O4 , and MgVO3 ) containing V3+ or V4+ relevant for Mg-ion battery cathodes. Characterization of these phases using 25 Mg solid-state NMR spectroscopy illustrates the potential of 25 Mg NMR for studying reversible magnesiation and local charge distributions. Rotor-assisted population transfer (RAPT) is used as a much-needed signal-to-noise enhancement technique. The ab initio guided synthesis method is seen as a step forward towards a predictive synthesis strategy for targeting specific complex TM oxides with variable oxidation states of technological importance.