High capacity silicon anodes enabled by MXene viscous aqueous ink

Abstract

The ever-increasing demands for advanced lithium-ion batteries have greatly stimulated thequest for robust electrodes with a high areal capacity. Producing thick electrodes from a high-performance active material would maximize this parameter. However, above a criticalthickness, solution-processedfilms typically encounter electrical/mechanical problems,limiting the achievable areal capacity and rate performance as a result. Herein, we show thattwo-dimensional titanium carbide or carbonitride nanosheets, known as MXenes, can be usedas a conductive binder for silicon electrodes produced by a simple and scalable slurry-castingtechnique without the need of any other additives. The nanosheets form a continuousmetallic network, enable fast charge transport and provide good mechanical reinforcementfor the thick electrode (up to 450μm). Consequently, very high areal capacity anodes (up to23.3 mAh cm−2) have been demonstrated