Microstructures and electrical properties of V₂O₅ and carbon-nanofiber composites fabricated by cold sintering process

The ability to apply a low temperature sintering technique, so called cold sintering process, was employed to fabricate V₂O₅ ceramic and carbon nanofiber (CNF) composites. The densities, microstructures, as well as electrical and electrochemical properties of (1 - x)V₂O₅-xCNF composites cold sintered at a temperature of 120 °C for a time of 20 min were investigated. All the samples can be sintered to >85% theoretical densities by cold sintering process. There is a limited grain growth in the cold sintered (1 - x)V₂O₅-xCNF composites. A small amount of V₂O₅ amorphous phase can be observed and most of the CNFs are distributed along the grain boundaries of V₂O₅ ceramic. With increasing the amount of CNFs, the electrical (electrical conductivity) and electrochemical (capacity) properties of (1 - x)V₂O₅-xCNF composites improve accordingly.