Constructing titanium carbide MXene/reduced graphene oxide superlattice heterostructure via electrostatic self-assembly for high-performance capacitive deionization

Huiting Xu; Meng Li; Siqi Gong; Fan Zhao; Yang Zhao; Chunli Li; Junjie Qi; Zhiying Wang; Honghai Wang; Xiaobin Fan; Wenchao Peng; Jiapeng Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.05.131

Constructing titanium carbide MXene/reduced graphene oxide superlattice heterostructure via electrostatic self-assembly for high-performance capacitive deionization

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Oct 15:624:233-241. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.05.131. Epub 2022 May 25.

Authors

Huiting Xu¹, Meng Li¹, Siqi Gong¹, Fan Zhao¹, Yang Zhao², Chunli Li¹, Junjie Qi¹, Zhiying Wang¹, Honghai Wang³, Xiaobin Fan², Wenchao Peng², Jiapeng Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Energy Conservation in Chemical Process Integration and Resources Utilization, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China.
² School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
³ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Energy Conservation in Chemical Process Integration and Resources Utilization, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China. Electronic address: ctstwhh@hebut.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Energy Conservation in Chemical Process Integration and Resources Utilization, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China. Electronic address: liujiapeng@hebut.edu.cn.

PMID: 35660891
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.05.131

Abstract

Capacitive deionization has attracted wide concern on accountof its high energy efficiency, low manufacturing cost and environmental friendliness. Nevertheless, the development of capacitive deionization is still impeded because of the scarcity of suitable electrode materials with superior performance. Herein, we successfully prepared the two-dimensional (2D) titanium carbide (Ti₃C₂T_x) MXene/ reduced graphene oxide (rGO) superlattice heterostructure by a facile electrostatic self-assembly strategy and systematically investigated its performance as capacitive deionized electrode materials. The unique 2D/2D superlattice heterostructure not only effectively alleviates the self-stacking problem of Ti₃C₂T_x MXene nanosheets, but also endows the heterostructure with superior conductivity and fast ion diffusion rate. As a result, the MXene/rGO superlattice heterostructure exhibits an outstanding salt (Na⁺) adsorption capacity (48 mg g^-¹) at 1.2 V significantly superior to pristine Ti₃C₂T_x MXene nanosheets, along with outstanding long-term cycling performance. Furthermore, the mechanism involved was elucidated through comprehensive characterizations. Therefore, this study offers a new pathway for designing high-performance electrode materials for capacitive deionization.

Keywords: Capacitive deionization; Electrostatic self-assembly; Superlattice heterostructure; Two-dimensional nanomaterials.