Two-dimensional (2D) titanium carbide (Ti3 C2 ) is emerging as an important member of the MXene family. However, fluoride-based synthetic procedures remain an impediment to the practical applications of this promising class of materials. Here we demonstrate an efficient fluoride-free etching method based on the anodic corrosion of titanium aluminium carbide (Ti3 AlC2 ) in a binary aqueous electrolyte. The dissolution of aluminium followed by in situ intercalation of ammonium hydroxide results in the extraction of carbide flakes (Ti3 C2 Tx , T=O, OH) with sizes up to 18.6 μm and high yield (over 90 %) of mono- and bilayers. All-solid-state supercapacitor based on exfoliated sheets exhibits high areal and volumetric capacitances of 220 mF cm-2 and 439 F cm-3 , respectively, at a scan rate of 10 mV s-1 , superior to those of LiF/HCl-etched MXenes. Our strategy paves a safe way to the scalable synthesis and application of MXene materials.
Keywords: MXene; Two-dimensional materials; electrochemistry; etching; supercapacitors.
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