Abstract
? 2022 Elsevier B.V.Herein, the 3D flower-like V2Al1-xCTz with an estimated petaloid nanosheet thickness of 10–20 nm were firstly obtained by etching the submicro-sized V2AlC precursors, which were synthesized at 1000 °C holding for 5 h in (Na,K)Cl melt by a facile molten salt method, in 40 wt% HF at room temperature. The synthesis mechanism of V2AlC is possibly related to the disproportionation reaction of V-ions on carbon surface in molten salts to form V2C, followed by the intercalation of Al into V2C. Subsequently, the 3D flower-like V2Al1-xCTz was applied as an anode in lithium-ion batteries, releasing ~215.2 mA h g?1 in the continuous 500 cycles at 0.5 A g?1, which exhibits the superiority in the reversible capacity in contrast with some reported micro-sized layered V2CTz MXenes. Such excellent electrochemical characteristics of V2Al1-xCTz could be mainly ascribed to its unique submicro-sized flower-like morphology with high specific surface areas and abundant electrochemical sites for accommodating the reversible insertion/extraction of Li-ions.
NSTL
Elsevier