Supramolecular Engineering of Ti3 C2 Tx MXene -Perylene Diimide Hybrid Electrodes for the Pseudocapacitive Electrochemical Storage of Calcium Ions

Small. 2024 Jan 23:e2309905. doi: 10.1002/smll.202309905. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

The rare combination of metallic conductivity and surface redox activity enables 2D MXenes as versatile charge storage hosts for the design of high-rate electrochemical energy storage devices. However, high charge density metal ions including but not limited to Ca+2 and Mg+2 pose challenges such as sluggish solid-state diffusion and also inhibiting the charge transfer across electrode-electrolyte interfaces. In this work, free-standing hybrid electrode architectures based on 2D titanium carbide-cationic perylene diimide (Ti3 C2 Tx @cPDI) via supramolecular self-assembly are developed. Secondary bonding interactions such as dipole-dipole and hydrogen bonding between Ti3 C2 Tx and cPDI are investigated by zeta potential and Fourier-transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy . Ti3 C2 Tx @cPDI free-standing electrodes show typical volumetric capacitance up to 260 F cm-3 in Mg2+ and Ca2+ aqueous electrolytes at charging times scales from 3 minutes to a few seconds. Three-dimensional (3D) Bode maps are constructed to understand the charge storage dynamics of Ti3 C2 Tx @cPDI hybrid electrode in an aqueous Ca-ion electrolyte. ,Pseudocapacitance is solely contributed by the nanoscale distribution of redox-active cPDI supramolecular polymers across 2D Ti3 C2 Tx . This study opens avenues for the design of a wide variety of MXene@redox active organic charge hosts for high-rate pseudocapacitive energy storage devices.

Keywords: MXenes; calcium-ion capacitors; energy storage; organic materials; pseudocapacitance.