Towards practical Li-ion full batteries with glass anodes

Vanadium (V)-based glasses have recently garnered considerable attention as promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their abundance of Li⁺ storage sites, neglectable volume expansion upon lithiation/delithiation, and facile preparation. However, the inherently low electronic conductivity and relatively low energy density of V-based glass anodes hinder its application in full LIBs. In this work, we tackled this challenge by optimizing the chemical composition of the V-based glass anode to achieve high-performance half and full cells. We investigated the impact of partially substituting B₂O₃ for P₂O₅ in 50V₂O₅-(50-x)P₂O₅-xB₂O₃ (mol%) (VPB) glass series on its structure and electrochemical performances. The glass with 30 mol% B₂O₃ (VPB30 glass) was found to deliver the highest electronic conductivity, an enhanced reversible capacity of 470 mA h g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ after 500 cycles, and an excellent rate capability. The optimized performances were ascribed to the boosted lithium-ion diffusivity and the increased lithium storage sites. We assembled a full cell by coupling a VPB30 glass anode with a LiCoO₂ cathode to test its cycling performance. The VPB30//LiCoO₂ cell exhibits the required power density, and hence, high practicality. Our work implied the practical application of glass anodes in high-performance LIBs.