Nature-Inspired Interconnected Macro/Meso/Micro-Porous MXene Electrode

Abstract

The geometric multiplication development of MXene has promoted it to become a star material in numerous applications including, but not limited to, energy storage. It is found that pore structure modulation engineering can improve the inherent properties of MXene, in turn significantly enhancing its electrochemical performance. However, most of the current works have focused on exploring the structure-effective relationships of the single-scale pore structure regulation of MXene. Inspired by Murray's law from nature where a highly graded structure of the organisms is discovered and used to achieve effective diffusion and maximize mass transfer, a hierarchically interconnected porous MXene electrode across micro-meso-macroporous is constructed. This MXene-based electrode provides large amounts of active sites while greatly shortening the ion diffusion channel. Finally, the zinc ion microcapacitor based on this MXene electrode exhibits an ultrahigh area-specific capacitance up to 410 mF cm−2 and an energy density up to 103 µWh cm−2 at a power density of 2100 µW cm−2. The areal energy density outperforms the currently reported zinc ion microcapacitors. This study supports an effective strategy for electrode materials (including but not limited to MXene) to achieve ultra-short ion diffusion channels and maximum transport efficiency for next-generation high-performance energy storage.