Designing a facile low cost synthesis strategy for the Na-V-S-O systems, NaV(SO₄)₂, Na₃V(SO₄)₃ and Na₂VO(SO₄)₂

Alkali metal transition metal sulfates have attracted considerable interest as potential electrodes for Na ion battery materials. While there has been significant research on Fe based systems, research on V based systems has been lacking, apart from a recent report on Na2VO(SO4)2. This can be related to the complex synthetic routes previously reported to make sodium vanadium sulfate systems. In this paper, we report a simple route towards the synthesis of three such sodium vanadium sulfate systems, NaV(SO4)2, Na2VO(SO4)2, and Na3V(SO4)3. We analyse the resulting products through X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy to highlight the formation of high quality samples via this simple solution route, with subsequent low temperature (<400 °C) heat treatment. This facile new route will allow these materials to be considered for future applications rather than as simply chemical curiosities.

Driscoll L.L. et al. < ... ...