Electrochemical Performance of (MgCoNiZn)_1–xLi_xO High-Entropy Oxides in Lithium-Ion Batteries

High-entropy oxides (HEOs), which are a new class of single-phase solid solution materials, have recently attracted significant attention as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this study, (MgCoNiZn)1-xLixO (x = 0.05, 0.15, 0.25, and 0.35) HEOs were synthesized and their electrochemical performances as the anode material were observed in LIBs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that the increase in the lithium cation concentration causes generation of more oxygen vacancies, which greatly affected the electrochemical performance of (MgCoNiZn)1-xLixO HEO anodes, in the structure. The more the oxygen vacancy concentration in the anode, the higher the discharge capacity in the LIB. The (MgCoNiZn)0.65Li0.35O anode had 1930 mA h g-1 initial and 610 mA h g-1 stable (after 130 cycles) discharge capacities at a current density of 1000 mA g-1. This work clearly indicated that designing a HEO with abundant oxygen vacancies in the structure was a very efficient strategy to improve the electrochemical performance of the HEO electrode for LIBs.