Vanadyl ethylene glycolate: A novel organic-inorganic electrode material for rechargeable aqueous aluminum-ion battery

This report illustrates an investigation on the electrochemistry of vanadyl ethylene glycolate (VEG) for rechargeable aqueous aluminum-ion battery for the first time. Vanadyl ethylene glycolate nanorods were synthesized by in-situ deposition on a carbon cloth current collector and, thereby, it makes a binder free electrode. It is found that the binder free VEG could significantly improve the electrochemical stability in comparison to pristine VEG with binder due to intimate contact of the electrode material with the current collector which resulted in reduced charge transfer resistance. The binder free electrode could deliver a stable discharge capacity of 77 mAhg−1 over 600 cycles at a high current density of 2 Ag−1, whereas pristine VEG shows negligible specific capacity. The Al3+ ion storage mechanism is also demonstrated utilizing ex-situ XPS, XRD and electron microscopy techniques.