The electrochemical properties of new electrodeposited manganese-containing vanadium oxides as cathode materials for lithium batteries are reported and compared with results obtained with pure V2O5 materials prepared in the same conditions. The influence of both synthesis and annealing temperatures is studied. Lithium intercalation in manganese-containing compounds e-V2O5(Mn) dried at 100°C is quite similar to that of pure electrolytic V2O5, with improved cycling properties.

After heating e-V2O5(Mn) at 300°C a new crystallized compound c-V2O5(Mn) is obtained. Its structure is closely related to that of orthorhombic a-V2O5. However, the presence of manganese in the crystallized vanadium oxide structure prevents the usual structural transformations from occuring upon lithium intercalation in pure a-V2O5 , i.e. to g phase in the 2.4-2.2 V range and to w phase in the 2.1-1.8 V range. As a result, a better cycling behavior is obtained in the 4-2.1 V range with c-V2O5(Mn). A transformation into a new phase, not yet identified, but that presents interesting cycling properties, appears between 2 V and 1.2 V.