Fabrication of Nano-sized Cr2GaC with a Bottom-Up Approach for Lithium Storage

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) that balance cycling stability and specific capacity are crucial for the development of green energy systems. MAX phases, with high theoretical specific capacities and robust layered structures, have the potential to be excellent anode materials for LIBs. However, the large particle size of MAX phases makes the metallic atoms in them difficult to utilize, which results in poor specific capacities and long electrochemical activation cycles. Therefore, constructing nanosized MAX phases is an effective strategy to achieve a satisfactory electrochemical performance. Herein, for the first time, we obtain Cr2GaC nanoparticles (Cr2GaC NPs, ∼100 nm) in situ anchored on carbonaceous nanofibers (NanoMAX-CF for short) via electrospinning. The bottom-up synthesis process results in the uniform size of Cr2GaC particles and guarantees their homogeneous distribution within the carbonaceous nanofibers. The as-prepared NanoMAX-CF composites not only exhibit high specific surface area and suitable pore distributions but also have great structural stability, resulting in superior rate capability (133 mA h g–1 at 10 A g–1) and excellent cyclic performance (534 mA h g–1 at 0.1 A g–1 after 300 cycles and 156.5 mA h g–1 at 10 A g–1 after 8000 cycles). This work paves the way to prepare nanosized MAX phases and provides perspectives to leverage MAX phases for lithium storage.