Uncovering Electrochemical Cation-Storage Mechanisms in Defective Vanadium Ferrites Using Synchrotron-Quality, in-Lab X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) is a critical tool for investigating new materials for electrochemical energy storage, providing important information on metal oxidation state and element-specific coordination. Historically, XAS measurements had required the energy specificity and brilliance of a synchrotron facility, but recent advances in detectors and optics are bringing XAS capabilities to the laboratory setting with multiple commercial instruments available. At the Naval Research Laboratory, we use laboratory-based XAS to study a class of disordered vanadium ferrite (VFe 2 O x ) aerogels that exhibit promising performance for electrochemical energy-storage applications such as rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. 1,2 The structure and composition of these materials are readily varied via modifications to the epoxide-promoted sol–gel reaction of iron chloride and vanadium isopropoxide (e.g., substitution with other cations such as Al 3+ ), 2 as well as post-synthesis thermal treatments that render disordered, defective, or nanocrystalline forms of a given composition. The resulting series of VFe 2 O x materials are evaluated by XAS in both ex situ and in situ configurations, including as powder-composite cathodes versus lithium metal in pouch cells with conventional nonaqueous lithium-ion electrolyte. X-ray Absorption Near-edge Spectroscopy (XANES) at the V K-edge and Fe K-edge is used to track V and Fe oxidation state, respectively, permitting the assignment of metal-centered redox across the broad potential range over which these materials are electrochemically active (2–3.4 V vs Li/Li + ). Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) analysis provides information on V- or Fe-specific coordination as a function of composition, structure, and state-of-charge. Parallel computation efforts using Density-Functional Theory offer a complementary feedback loop with experimental XANES and EXAFS to achieve a sophisticated description of these complex battery materials. 1. C. N. Chervin, J. S. Ko, B. W. Miller, L. Dudek, A. N. Mansour, M. D. Donakowski, T. Brintlinger, P. Gogotsi, S. Chattopadhyay, T. Shibata, J. F. Parker, B. P. Hahn, D. R. Rolison, and J. W. Long, J. Mater. Chem. A 3 , 12059 (2015). 2. C. N. Chervin, R. H. DeBlock, J. F. Parker, B. M. Hudak, N. L. Skeele, J. S. Ko, D. R. Rolison, and J. W. Long, RSC Adv. 11 , 14495 (2021).