Study of alkali metal oxides doped magnesium vanadate glasses and glass ceramics

Abstract

The present thesis is related to the study of (75) V2O5-(25-x) MgO-xA2O (A= Li, Na and K) (x =0-12) systems. These samples are synthesized by the quench technique followed by heat treatments to the selected samples. The physical, structural, thermal, and conducting properties of as prepared samples are studied using various experimental and testing techniques to determine their suitability as cathode material in battery and electrochemical fuel cells. The research work is presented in different chapters. Chapter 1: This chapter describes the background of renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. Different energy sources are being explored that can meet the demand without harming the environment. Fuel cell and batteries could be a new sustainable and renewable source of energy. The battery has shown great potential to become an efficient and reliable energy source associated with its high efficiency, simple processing and environment friendly nature. The role of different components of the battery has also been discussed in this chapter. Since the present work is related to the development of cathode materials, therefore, the main focus has been given to the particularly cathode as described in context to specific properties such as thermal stability at battery operating temperature in oxidizing and reducing medium and their electrical conductivity. Chapter 2: This chapter deals with the literature review on vanadium based glasses/glass ceramics/ceramics as cathode material for batteries, fuel cells and supercapacitors. The physical, structural, optical, thermal and conducting properties of the cathode materials are discussed in light of various processing parameters, dopants and their concentration. Based on the literature review the motivation of the present study along with the objectives of the present research is also given in the last of this chapter. xviii Chapter 3: This chapter gives details about the source of raw materials synthesis parameters and the experimental method employed for sample