Sand-Fixation Model for Interface Engineering of Layered Titania and N/O-Doped Carbon Composites to Enhance...

Layered titania (L-TiO₂ ) holds great potential for potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to their high specific capacity. Synthesizing L-TiO₂ functional materials for high-capacity and long cyclability battery remains challenging due to the unstable and poor conductivity of bare L-TiO₂ . In nature, plant growth can stabilize land by preventing sands from dispersing following desertification. Inspired by nature's "sand-fixation model," Al³⁺ "seeds" are in situ grown on layered Ti₃ C₂ T_x "land." Subsequently, NH₂ -MIL-101(Al) "plants" with Al as metal nodes are grown on the Ti₃ C₂ T_x "land" by self-assembly. After annealing and etching processes (similar to desertification), NH₂ -MIL-101(Al) is transformed into interconnected N/O-doped carbon (MOF-NOC), which not only acts as a plant-like function to prevent the pulverization of L-TiO₂ transformed from Ti₃ C₂ T_x but also improves the conductivity and stability of MOF-NOC@L-TiO₂ . Al species are selected as seeds to improve interfacial compatibility and form intimate interface heterojunction. Systematic ex situ analysis discloses that the ions storage mechanism can be endowed by mixed contribution of non-Faradaic and Faradaic capacitance. Consequently, the MOF-NOC@L-TiO₂ electrodes exhibit high interfacial capacitive charge storage and outstanding cycling performance. The interface engineering strategy inspired by "sand-fixation model" provides a reference for designing stable layered composites.