Engineering Oxygen-Terminated Hexagonal MBene for Accelerated Lithium Migration and Exceptional Lithium-Ion Battery...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Ultrathin 2D hexagonal transition metal borides (h-MBenes) are promising for energy storage.
• Developing cost-effective and earth-abundant 2D materials is crucial for battery technology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report the experimental feasibility of atomically thin Ti-based 2D h-MBenes (TiBTx) for lithium-ion battery applications.
• To develop a cost-effective synthesis method for TiBTx using earth-abundant metals.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of TiBTx via ZnCl2 molten salt etching of Ti2InB2.
• Delamination and intercalation of tetrabutylammonium hydroxide to form d-TiBTx.
• Characterization of material properties and electrochemical performance in lithium-ion cells.

Main Results:

• Successful synthesis of ultrathin TiBTx nanosheets using a low-temperature molten salt method.
• Achieved a specific capacity of 530 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 and 120 mAh g-1 at 10 A g-1.
• Demonstrated a lithium full-cell with LiFePO4 cathode achieving 425 Wh kg-1 energy density and 94.3% capacity retention after 100 cycles.

Conclusions:

• Ultrathin Ti-based 2D MBenes (TiBTx) are viable for high-performance lithium-ion batteries.
• The novel synthesis method enables efficient production of these advanced energy storage materials.
• This work paves the way for harnessing the potential of h-MBenes in next-generation batteries.