Study on Li ion diffusion in LixV2O5 using first principle calculations and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations

Abstract We study the Li diffusion in Li x V 2 O 5 ( 0 < x ⩽ 1 )—a potential cathode material for Lithium ion batteries. Different diffusion pathways in this material with dependence on the Li ion concentration are investigated by applying first-principles calculations. The results are used to obtain the corresponding diffusion coefficients by employing two complementary methodologies: Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations and a statistical thermodynamics approach. The KMC simulations for two different crystal planes give new evidence that the diffusion occurs mainly along the [010] direction, while the corresponding diffusion coefficients show a temperature dependence obeying Arrhenius’ Law. The necessity of the consideration of concentration-dependent barrier heights in the KMC simulations are demonstrated by looking at the significant changes of the concentration-dependence of the diffusion coefficients. The simulated diffusion coefficients of the combined approach show a good quantitative agreement with experimental data reported previously.