Magnetic-Stirring-Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of Nanosheet-Assembled V6O13 Microflowers with Remarkable Electrochemical Performance for Li-Ion Batteries

V6O13 is a promising cathode material for Li-ion batteries because of its high theoretical capacity and energy density. However, as mixed-valence vanadium oxide, it faces the challenge of controllable synthesis. Herein, nanosheet-assembled V6O13 microflowers are synthesized by applying an interesting magnetic-stirring-assisted hydrothermal method within a short period. When evaluated as a cathode material for Li-ion batteries, the obtained microflower-like V6O13 exhibits a high discharge capacity of 318.65 mAh/g at 100 mA/g. Even at a high current density of 1000 mA/g, the discharge capacity remains at 197.18 mAh/g. It is worth noting that the capacity retention rate is up to 85.9% after 200 cycles, with an average capacity decline of only 0.070% per cycle. The excellent electrochemical performance is attributed to the unique microflower morphology and high specific surface area. The results clearly show that as-synthesized V6O13 microflowers are a very promising cathode material for next-generation Li-ion batteries.