In-liquid plasma discharge for one-step synthesis of MXene embedded TiO2 thin film on Ti foil as lithium-ion battery anode

Abstract

Herein, we report a robust and efficient approach to build a MXene embedded TiO2 composite thin film in situ on Ti foil via the plasma discharge process in aqueous solution. The plasma electron temperature fluctuates from 4000 K of the initial discharge to 6000 K of the stable discharge, accompanied by frequency variation of the acoustic signal. The fabricated composite film presents a porous morphology with 3D skeletal TiO2/MXene and uniformly distributed SiO2 nano-particles, which guarantees the superior Li storage performance when serves as the Li-ion battery anode. Its specific capacity can stabilize above 2300 mAh g−1 at the current density of 0.1 A g−1, together with an excellent rate capability. This work provides a promising route for the one-step synthesis of binder-free oxide anodes without the anfractuous pretreatments or post-treatments.