Three-dimensional N-doped mesoporous carbon–MXene hybrid architecture for supercapacitor applications

Abstract

Hierarchical heterostructures of mesoporous carbon wrapped around MXene nanolayers, which combine a porous skeleton, two-dimensional nanosheet morphology, and hybrid characteristics, have attracted research attention as electrode materials for energy storage systems. Nevertheless, it remains a significant challenge to fabricate such structures due to a lack of control of material morphology with high pore accessibility for the mesostructured carbon layers. As a proof of concept, I report a novel layer-by-layer N-doped mesoporous carbon (NMC)MXene heterostructure through the interfacial self-assembly of exfoliated MXene nanosheets and block copolymer P123/melamine–formaldehyde resin micelles with subsequent calcination treatment. The incorporation of MXene layers in the carbon matrix not only creates a spacer to inhibit the MXene sheet restacking and high specific surface area, but it also renders composites with good conductivity and additional pseudo capacitance. The as-prepared electrode with NMC and MXene exhibits outstanding electrochemical performance, with a gravimetric capacitance of 393 F g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ in an aqueous electrolyte and remarkable cycling stability. More importantly, the proposed synthesis strategy highlights the benefit of using MXene as a buttress for organizing mesoporous carbon in novel architectures with the potential for energy storage application.