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Nano Research 2021, 14(3): 699-706 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3100-6
Research Article | Issue | Published: 01 March 2021

Electrolyte-mediated dense integration of graphene-MXene films for high volumetric capacitance flexible supercapacitors

Show Author's Information Min Zhang1,  Jun Cao2,4( ),  Yi Wang2,  Jia Song3,  Tianci Jiang2,  Yanyu Zhang2,  Weimeng Si2,  Xiaowei Li2,  Bo Meng1( ),  Guangwu Wen2
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, China
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, China
School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300071, China
Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300072, China
Keywords:
high energy density, electrolyte-mediated, dense structure, continuous ion transport channels, composite film, flexible supercapacitors
Topics:
CapacitanceElectrodesElectrolytesElectrolytic capacitors GrapheneOxide filmsSupercapacitor
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Zhang M, Cao J, Wang Y, et al. Electrolyte-mediated dense integration of graphene-MXene films for high volumetric capacitance flexible supercapacitors. Nano Research, 2021, 14(3): 699-706. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3100-6
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

High conductivity two-dimensional (2D) materials have been proved to be potential electrode materials for flexible supercapacitors because of its outstanding chemical and physical properties. However, electrodes based on 2D materials always suffer from limited electrolyte-accessible surface due to the restacking of the 2D sheets, hindering the full utilization of their surface area. In this regard, an electrolyte-mediated method is used to integrate dense structure reduced graphene oxide/MXene (RGM)-electrolyte composite films. In such composite films, reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and MXene sheets are controllable assembly in compact layered structure with electrolyte filled between the layers. The electrolyte layer between RGO and MXene sheets forms continuous ion transport channels in the composite films. Therefore, the RGM-electrolyte composite films can be used directly as self-supporting electrodes for supercapacitors without additional conductive agents and binders. As a result, the composite films demonstrate enhanced volumetric specific capacity, improved volumetric energy density and higher power density compared with both pure RGO electrode and porous composite electrode prepared by traditional methods. Specifically, when the mass ratio of MXene is 30%, the electrode delivers a volumetric specific capacity of 454.9 F·cm−3 with a high energy density of 39.4 Wh·L−1. More importantly, supercapacitors based on the composite films exhibit good flexibility electrochemical performance. The investigation provides a new approach to synthesize dense structure films based on 2D materials for application in high volumetric capacitance flexible supercapacitors.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Electrolyte-mediated dense integration of graphene-MXene films for high volumetric capacitance flexible supercapacitors

Show Author's information Min Zhang1, Jun Cao2,4( ), Yi Wang2, Jia Song3, Tianci Jiang2, Yanyu Zhang2, Weimeng Si2, Xiaowei Li2, Bo Meng1( ), Guangwu Wen2
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, China
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, China
School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300071, China
Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300072, China

Abstract

High conductivity two-dimensional (2D) materials have been proved to be potential electrode materials for flexible supercapacitors because of its outstanding chemical and physical properties. However, electrodes based on 2D materials always suffer from limited electrolyte-accessible surface due to the restacking of the 2D sheets, hindering the full utilization of their surface area. In this regard, an electrolyte-mediated method is used to integrate dense structure reduced graphene oxide/MXene (RGM)-electrolyte composite films. In such composite films, reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and MXene sheets are controllable assembly in compact layered structure with electrolyte filled between the layers. The electrolyte layer between RGO and MXene sheets forms continuous ion transport channels in the composite films. Therefore, the RGM-electrolyte composite films can be used directly as self-supporting electrodes for supercapacitors without additional conductive agents and binders. As a result, the composite films demonstrate enhanced volumetric specific capacity, improved volumetric energy density and higher power density compared with both pure RGO electrode and porous composite electrode prepared by traditional methods. Specifically, when the mass ratio of MXene is 30%, the electrode delivers a volumetric specific capacity of 454.9 F·cm−3 with a high energy density of 39.4 Wh·L−1. More importantly, supercapacitors based on the composite films exhibit good flexibility electrochemical performance. The investigation provides a new approach to synthesize dense structure films based on 2D materials for application in high volumetric capacitance flexible supercapacitors.

Keywords: high energy density, electrolyte-mediated, dense structure, continuous ion transport channels, composite film, flexible supercapacitors

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 05 August 2020
Revised: 07 September 2020
Accepted: 07 September 2020
Published: 01 March 2021
Issue date: March 2021

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Nos. ZR2018BB038 and ZR2019BEM041) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21805171, 51802178 and 51804189).

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