As Li-ion batteries are more widely
adopted, it becomes important
to identify new battery electrode materials made from a greater diversity
of elements while improving stability, extracted power, and the ability
to charge and discharge rapidly. Early transition metals, such as
Nb and Mo, are relatively earth-abundant elements, with oxides that
are candidates for next-generation anode materials. However, Mo oxides
are limited as battery electrodes due to their intermediate redox
voltages. Lowering this voltage could open the door for high-performance
Mo-based oxide anodes. Oxidation of the voltage can be employed by
adding redox-inactive cations of electropositive elements. This strategy
is named the induction effect and has been proposed as a design principle
to increase cathode voltages. However, its use on the anode side appears
less common. Here, we compare the ionization energy, electrochemistry,
and Li diffusivity of the compound Li2Mo4O13 with MoO3, which both start out as Mo6+ compounds before lithiation. The ionization energy values extracted
from ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy support the hypothesis
that the alkali metal cation pushes up the valence band. Electrochemical
studies in half-cells against Li/Li+ indicate that Li2Mo4O13 can reversibly take up two additional
Li ions in the unit cell. Moreover, the addition of Li to the molybdenum
oxide structure lowers the voltage by 300 mV for the Mo6+/5+ couple compared to the same redox couple in MoO3 and
retains high Li+ diffusivity. This work, in conjunction
with experimental redox voltages extracted from prior literature on
Ti4+/3+ and Nb5+/4+ redox couples,
demonstrates the utility of using inductive effects to tailor the
operating voltage of candidate anode materials.