Facile preparation of PANI/MoOx nanowires decorated MXene film electrodes for electrochemical supercapacitors

Two-dimensional (2D) carbides and nitrides of transition metals (MXene) show great potential in supercapacitor electrodes because of high metallic conductivity, surface hydrophilicity and excellent electrochemical properties. However, the restacking and agglomeration of 2D MXene severely limit its application in energy storage devices. Herein, the PANI/MoOx nanowires decorated MXene (PMM) film electrodes are rationally designed and successfully achieved via a vacuum-assisted filtration method. The introduction of PANI/MoOx nanowires not only mitigates the restacking of MXene matrix, but also provides more transport channels and storage space for ions. The PMM composite film with 20 wt.% PANI/MoOx nanowires (labeled as PMM-20) used as supercapacitor electrodes can possess a high specific capacitance of 450 F/g at 5 mV/s and a high capacitance retention of about 91.5% after 10,000 cycles at 20 A/g. Furthermore, the symmetric supercapacitors based on the PMM-20 composite film electrodes show an energy density of 19.53 Wh/kg at a power density of 1610.11 W/kg. Thus, the PMM film electrodes with excellent electrochemical properties provide new insights into the rational design of supercapacitor electrodes, exhibiting a great potential use in the application of energy storage devices.