A superior cathode of sodium-ion battery: A V2O5 nanosheets anchored on carbon nanofibers

Vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) as the cathode material has caused great concern in metal-ion batteries due to the diverse valence states of vanadium. However, structural instability and poor electrical and ionic conductivity significantly limit its application as high-efficiency electrodes. Herein, V₂O₅ nanosheet is directly grown on electrospun carbon nanofibers (V₂O₅@CNFs) by a hydrothermal method as a cathode for sodium-ion batteries. The carbon fiber skeleton can improve not only the conductivity but also buffer the volume variations of the electrodes. As the cathode of NIBs, the as-prepared V₂O₅@CNFs exhibits an excellent capacity of 178 mAh g⁻¹ at 25 mA g⁻¹ and 60 mAh g⁻¹ at 1000 mA g⁻¹.