Controlled Crumpling of Two-Dimensional Titanium Carbide (MXene) for Highly Stretchable, Bendable, Efficient...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Electrochemistry

Background:

• Two-dimensional MXene materials offer excellent electrical and electrochemical properties for energy storage.
• Achieving stretchability in MXene is difficult due to inherent stiffness and weak intersheet interactions.
• Developing mechanically stable MXene architectures requires advanced assembly techniques.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel fabrication method for creating stretchable MXene nanocoatings.
• To design sequence-dependent MXene textures for controllable wetting and high-performance electrodes.
• To demonstrate the electrochemical performance and deformability of stretchable MXene-based devices.

Main Methods:

• Harnessing interfacial instability for programmed crumpling/unfolding of MXene nanocoatings.
• Employing sequential patterning for multi-scale MXene texture design.
• Transferring crumpled MXene nanocoatings onto elastomer substrates to create stretchable electrodes.

Main Results:

• Fabricated sequence-dependent MXene textures enabling controllable wetting and high-areal-capacitance electrodes.
• Developed stretchable MXene/elastomer electrodes with accordion-like structures that maintain capacitance upon folding/unfolding.
• Demonstrated asymmetric supercapacitors with efficient electrochemical performance and significant deformability (180° bending, 100% stretching).

Conclusions:

• The developed texturing technique enables the creation of mechanically stable and stretchable MXene architectures.
• This approach is applicable to various MXene materials for advanced wearable electronics.
• The findings pave the way for flexible and durable energy storage solutions.