Designing Molybdenum Trioxide and Hard Carbon Architecture for Stable Lithium‐Ion Battery Anodes

Abstract Molybdenum Trioxide (MoO 3 ) is a promising candidate as an anode material for lithium‐ion batteries (LIB), with a theoretical capacity of 1 117 mAhg −1 . Nevertheless, MoO 3 has inherent lower electronic conductivity and suffers from significant volume expansion during the charge–discharge cycle, which hinders its ability to attain a substantial capacity and cyclability for practical applications. In this study, a novel material design strategy is reported for LIB anodes containing MoO 3 and hard carbon (HC) architecture fabricated using a Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) technique. MoO 3 /HC as anode materials are evaluated for LIBs, which demonstrate an exceptional performance with a capacity of 953 mAhg −1 at a discharging rate of 0.2 C. Additionally, MoO 3 /HC anode demonstrated exceptional rate capability during fast charging at 5 C and achieved a capacity of 342 mAhg −1 . The MoO 3 /HC anode demonstrates remarkable cycle life, retaining over > 99% Coulombic efficiency after 3 000 cycles at a rate of 0.2 C. The exceptional performance of MoO 3 /HC anode can be attributed to the novel material design strategy based on a multi‐layered structure where HC provides a barrier against the possible volumetric expansion of LIB anode.