Ferroferric oxide nanoclusters decorated Ti3C2Tx nanosheets as high performance anode materials for lithium ion batteries

Abstract

Titanium carbide MXene as a new 2D anode material has been used for lithium ion batteries, due to its high electrical conductivity, low Li+ diffusion barriers and excellent chemical stability. Nevertheless, the low specific capacity of titanium carbide limits its application. Herein, we used facile ultrasonic and freeze drying methods to fabricate the ferroferric oxide (Fe3O4) modified Ti3C2Tx hybrids for lithium storage. In the hybrid, Fe3O4 nanoclusters are homogeneously anchored on the surface of the single or few layered Ti3C2Tx nanosheets by electrostatic interactions. Due to the synergistic effect of Fe3O4 nanoclusters and Ti3C2Tx nanosheets, all the prepared hybrids show superior lithium storage performance to the single titanium carbide and Fe3O4 nanoclusters. The hybrid with weight ratio of Ti3C2Tx nanosheets and Fe3O4 (1:1) exhibits a high lithium storage capacity of 437.6 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles at 100 mA g−1. Even at a high current density of 2 A g−1, it still retains a stable capacity of 326.6 mA h g−1 after 1000 long cycles. The excellent lithium storage performance is proved to be the combination of battery and capacitance behaviors based on the kinetics analysis. This work demonstrates that Fe3O4 nanoclusters decorated Ti3C2Tx nanosheets hybrids are promising high performance anode materials for lithium ion batteries.