In-plane Mesoporous MXene Nanocomposite Electrodes: Maximizing Ion Accessibility/Transport Pathway and Mechanical Strength of Pristine MXene

Abstract

Developing electrode materials with mechanical integrity and high electrochemical performance applied for flexible electronic devices remains a great challenge. This work reports a porous MXene/aramid nanofiber (ANF) electrode material. The introduction of mesopores and reduced lateral sizes in the plane of MXene nanosheets provides lots of active sites and ion transport channels. Moreover, the addition of ANF as an intercalator enlarges the interlayer spacing, which also acts as an interlocking agent to form hydrogen bonds to connect the nanosheets, while endowing the super mechanical strength. In addition, zinc ion microcapacitors (ZIMC) are built with the electrode material, which exhibited high specific capacitance of 207 mFcm-2 at a scan rate of 5 mVs-1. It shows a high energy density of 109.6mWhcm-2 at a power density of 4200mWcm-2. The integrated pressure sensing device powered by this ZIMC demonstrates good promise for use in the field of detection of human motion signal.