Electrochemical characterization of Ti3C2Tx MXene prepared via a molten salt etching route in an acetonitrile-based electrolyte

Abstract

Two-dimensional metal carbide and nitride materials (MXenes) with controlled Cl- and O-surface terminations (MS-Ti3C2Tx) were prepared by a molten salt etching route and their electrochemical properties were investigated in nitrile-based electrolytes. The results show that the power performance of MS-Ti3C2Tx was greatly improved in acetonitrile (ACN)-based non-aqueous organic electrolytes, which are conventional electrolytes for electrochemical capacitors. The addition of a lithium salt to produce 2 M LiTFSI in ACN results in an increase in the specific capacitance. Moreover, replacing LiTFSI by LiFSI drastically improves the power performance of MXenes at a high scan rate (95 mAh g−1 at 900C). These results highlight the importance of properly matching the electrolyte composition to the electrode material and shed light on MXenes as high-rate electrode materials for energy storage applications.

Keywords

• Ti3C2Tx MXene
• Molten salts approach
• Acetonitrile
• Surface termination
• Li-ion battery