Polyaniline-intercalatedlayeredvanadiumoxidenanocompositPolyaniline-intercalatedlayeredvanadiumoxidenanocomposites—One-pothydrothermalsynthesisandapplicationinlithiumbattery/nanoscale|NanoscalePolyaniline-intercalatedlayeredvanadiumoxidenanocomposites—One-pothydrothermalsynthesisandapplicationinlithiumbatteryYupingChen,aGangYang,bZihuiZhang,aXiaoyanYang,aWenhuaHou*aandJun-JieZhu*aReceived15thApril2021,Accepted30thJune2021DOI:10.1039/c0nr00246aPolyaniline-intercalatedlayeredvanadiumoxidenanocompositesweresuccessfullysynthesizedbyanone-pothydrothermalmethodandcharacterizedbyX-raydiffraction(XRD),scanningelectronmicroscopy(SEM),transmissionelectronmicroscopy(TEM),highresolutiontransmissionelectronmicroscopy(HRTEM),selectedareaelectrondiffraction(SAED),Fouriertransforminfraredspectroscopy(FT-IR),andRamanspectroscopy.Theeffectsofreactionconditions,suchaspHvalueoftheprecursorsolution,reactiontemperatureandtime,andtheamountofanilineonthestructureandmorphologyoftheobtainedsamples,weresystematicallyinvestigated.Basedontheexperimentalresults,aninsituintercalation-polymerization-exfoliationmechanismwasputforwardfortheformationoflayerednanocomposites.Theapplicationoftheresultinglayerednanocompositeasthecathodematerialinlithiumbatterywastestedandtheresultsshowedthatthepolyaniline-intercalatedlayeredvanadiumoxidenanocompositepreparedat140Chadagoodcyclingperformanceandmightactasapromisingcathodematerialforhigh-energy-densityrechargeablelithiumbatteries.Downloadedon02December2021Publishedon08September2021on|doi:10.1039/C0NR00246AIntroductionVanadiumoxidesandtheirrelatedcompoundshavebeeninvestigatedbothextensivelyandintensivelyduetotheirnovelphysicochemicalpropertiesandpotentialapplicationsinlithiumbatteries,1electriceld-effecttransistors2–4andchemicalsensors.5,6Thelayeredstructureandredoxabilityofvanadiumoxidesallowtheinsertionofvariousguestspeciessuchaspoly-mers,leadingtotheformationofhybridmaterialswithamixedvalenceofvanadium(V4+/V5+).7Organic–inorganichybridstructureshavebeendesignedtoachievenewmaterialswithimprovedpropertiesbecauseofthesynergiceffectsoftheirconstituentsatamolecularlevel.8,9Specically,theintercalationofconductingpolymersintolayeredinorganichostshasbeenatopicofresearchinterestoverthepasthalfcentury.10–13Amongthefamilyofconductingpolymers,polyanilineisofgreatinterestbecauseitselectricalandopticalpropertiescanbecontrolledbyasimpleandreversibleacid–basedoping–dedopingprocess.14Polyaniline–vanadiumoxidehybridmaterial,anewkindofconductingpolymer/oxidebronze,hasreceivedmuchattentionbecauseofthemixedelectroniccharge-transportproperties10,15,16andpotentialapplicationsinlithiumsecondarybatteries,17–19sensors20andelectrochromicdevices.21Considerableeffortshavebeenmadeonthesynthesisofconventionalpolyaniline–vana-diumoxidehybridmaterialsviainsituoxidativepolymerization/intercalationofanilineinV2O5xerogel15,16,22andthelayer-by-layermethod,23respectively.However,thesemethodsofteninvolvelengthyprocedureswithseveralstepsandneedmoreKeyLaboratoryofMesoscopicChemistryofMOEandKeyLaboratoryofAnalyticalChemistryforLifeScienceofMOE,SchoolofChemistryandChemicalEngineering,NanjingUniversity,Nanjing,210093,P.R.China.E-mail:whou@;jjzhu@bSchoolofChemistryandMaterialsEngineering,ChangshuInstituteofTechnology,Changshu,215500,P.R.ChinaElectronicsupplementaryinformation(ESI)available:Expe...