Three-Dimensional Porous Ti₃C₂Tx-NiO Composite Electrodes with Enhanced Electrochemical Performance for Supercapacitors

Kaicheng Zhang; Guobing Ying; Lu Liu; Fengchen Ma; Lin Su; Chen Zhang; Donghai Wu; Xiang Wang; Ying Zhou

doi:10.3390/ma12010188

Three-Dimensional Porous Ti₃C₂T_x-NiO Composite Electrodes with Enhanced Electrochemical Performance for Supercapacitors

Materials (Basel). 2019 Jan 8;12(1):188. doi: 10.3390/ma12010188.

Authors

Kaicheng Zhang¹, Guobing Ying², Lu Liu³, Fengchen Ma⁴, Lin Su⁵, Chen Zhang⁶, Donghai Wu⁷, Xiang Wang⁸, Ying Zhou⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Mechanics and Materials, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China. zhangkc1995@163.com.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Mechanics and Materials, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China. yinggb2010@126.com.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Mechanics and Materials, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China. liulu201709@163.com.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Mechanics and Materials, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China. mafengchen0729@163.com.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Mechanics and Materials, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China. sulin_2016@163.com.
⁶ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Mechanics and Materials, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China. zhangchh2015@126.com.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resources Development of Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China. wdh1018@hhu.edu.cn.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials & Surface Technology (Harbin Engineering University), Ministry of Education, Harbin 150001, China. wangxiang@hrbeu.edu.cn.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resources Development of Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China. yingzhouhhu@126.com.

Abstract

Ti₃C₂T_x and Ti₃C₂T_x-NiO composites with three-dimensional (3D) porous networks were successfully fabricated via vacuum freeze-drying. The microstructure, absorption, and electrochemical properties of the developed composites were investigated. Nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticles could be evenly distributed on the three-dimensional network of three-dimensional Ti₃C₂T_x using solution processing. When employed as electrochemical capacitor electrodes in 1 M environmentally friendly sodium sulfate, Na₂SO₄, solution, the three-dimensional porous Ti₃C₂T_x-NiO composite electrodes exhibited considerable volume specific capacitance as compared to three-dimensional porous Ti₃C₂T_x. The three-dimensional porous Ti₃C₂T_x-NiO composite delivered a remarkable cycling performance with a capacitance retention of up to 114% over 2500 cycles. The growth trend of the capacitance with NiO content shows that nickel oxide plays a crucial role in the composite electrodes. These results present a roadmap for the development of convenient and economical supercapacitors in consideration with the possibilities of morphological control and the extensibility of the process.

Keywords: MXene; electrode; freeze-drying; porous Ti3C2Tx-NiO composite; supercapacitor.

Abstract

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