Titanium germanium carbide MAX phase electrocatalysts for supercapacitors and alkaline water electrolysis processes

Abstract

Developing electrochemically active, stable, and low-cost electrocatalysts for electrochemical devices is a significant breakthrough. Accordingly, MAX phases, emerging three-dimensional materials, are considered outstanding candidates due to their excellent electrocatalytic and electrochemical properties. Herein, the titanium germanium carbide (Ti3GeC2) MAX phase with a layered structure manufactured through reactive sintering was regarded as the electrocatalyst. In the current work, the electrocatalytic activity of the Ti3GeC2 was investigated for electrochemical devices. It was observed that adding activated carbon to the Ti3GeC2 enhances the conductivity and active area, leading to an excellent specific capacitance (349 Fg-1) for supercapacitors. Also, the capacitance of Ti3GeC2 was increased by increasing the number of cyclic voltammetry cycles. In another application, Ti3GeC2 showed substantial activity for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions in alkaline media. As a result, the alkaline water electrolysis system using Ti3GeC2 showed the highest current density of 10 mA cm−2 at 1.36 V and outstanding stability over 400 cycles.