Cross-linked amorphous potassium titanate Nanobelts/Titanium carbide MXene nanoarchitectonics for efficient sodium storage at low temperature

Abstract

One of the major challenges to improving the performance of sodium-ion batteries at low temperatures is to develop effective anode materials with novel structures and fast reaction kinetics. Currently, converting electrode materials from the crystalline to amorphous state is an effective approach to fabricate the electrode material with high sodium storage performance. Herein, a three-dimensional (3D) cross-linked heterostructure with one-dimensional (1D) amorphous potassium titanate (KTiOx) nanobelts in-situ grown on two-dimensional (2D) titanium carbide (Ti2CTx) nanosheets (a-KTiOx/Ti2CTx) was fabricated through alkalization of the multilayered Ti2CTx MXene, which exhibits remarkable sodium storage performance at both room and low temperatures. The heterostructure prepared by the combination of 1D amorphous nanobelts and 2D conductive nanosheets enables efficient strain alleviation in the electrode, a high capacitive contribution to charge storage, rapid ionic diffusion kinetics, and robust electrode integrity, thus enhancing the sodium storage performance. In particular, reversible capacities of 221.9, 144.2 and 112.6 mAh/g can be achieved at 0.1 A/g after 100 cycles at 25, 0 and −25 °C, respectively. This study provides significant insights into the construction of MXene-based electrode materials for sodium storage at low temperatures.