Determination of the Conformational Preference of para-Aminobenzoic Acid on Vanadium Pentoxide Surface: An XPS and DFT Study

Abstract

Self-assembled monolayers are a promising opportunity to control the electrochemical reactions taking place on electrodes of lithium-ion batteries. Such control is relevant to diminish the aging process and to improve the performance of these energy storage devices. From this point of view, the adsorption of para-aminobenzoic acid on vanadium pentoxide, an attractive high-capacity cathode material, is investigated with the combination of experimental angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy as well as dispersion-corrected density functional calculations. Our results show that the molecules prefer a lyingdown or up-standing configuration depending on their concentration. The comparison between experiment and simulation indicates a high coverage of the surface and hence the formation of a self-assembled monolayer of up-standing molecules.