Microwave-assisted synthesis of few-layered MXene Ti3C2 with high specific capacitance and low impedance for supercapacitor

MXene Ti3C2 obtained by original Ti3AlC2 precursor has a typical accordion structure, which is composed of multiple layers of Ti3C2, known as multilayer Ti3C2. MXene Ti3C2 obtained by treating Ti3AlC2 precursor and ultrasonic intercalation is composed of one or several layers of Ti3C2, which is known as few-layered Ti3C2. Due to the strong force between the layers of Ti3C2, it is easy to stack in the long charge–discharge cycle, and it is difficult to embed load ions, resulting in capacitance attenuation. This work proposed a delamination method of multilayer Ti3C2 using microwave-assisted etching and obtained few-layered Ti3C2 as a result. As traditional centrifuge involves a lot of mechanical agitation and centrifuging, an efficient delamination is a good contribution to the field. The few-layered Ti3C2 was applied as a supercapacitor electrode in neutral pH electrolyte KCl and found improved performance over the multilayer Ti3C2. This provides a new direction for the efficient synthesis of few-layered Ti3C2 with high specific mass capacitance and low impedance as electrode materials for supercapacitors.