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Transition metal nitrides (TMNs) are of particular interest by virtue of their synergic advantages of superior electrical conductivity, excellent environmental durability and high reaction selectivity, yet it is difficult to achieve flexible design and operation. Herein, mesocrystal nanosheets (MCNSs) of vanadium nitride (VN) are synthesized via a confined-growth route from thermally stable layered vanadium bronze, representing the first two-dimensional (2D) metallic mesocrystal in inorganic compounds. Benefiting from their single-crystalline-like long-range electronic connectivity, VN MCNSs deliver an electrical conductivity of 1.44 × 105 S/m at room temperature, among the highest values observed for 2D nanosheets. Coupled with their unique pseudocapacitance, VN MCNS-based flexible supercapacitors afford a superior volumetric capacitance of 1, 937 mF/cm3. Nitride MCNSs should have wide applications in the energy storage and conversion fields because their intrinsic high conductivity is coupled with the reactivity of inorganic lattices.

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 29 August 2014
Revised: 09 October 2014
Accepted: 13 October 2014
Published: 18 November 2014
Issue date: January 2015

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21222101, 11132009, 21331005, 11321503 and J1030412), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB01010300), the Fok Ying-Tong Education Foundation, China (No. 141042) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. WK2060190027 and WK2310000024).

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