Direct Chemical Synthesis of MnO2 Nanowhiskers on Transition-Metal Carbide Surfaces for Supercapacitor Applications

Transition-metal carbides (MXenes) are an emerging class of two-dimensional materials with promising electrochemical energy storage performance. Herein, for the first time, by direct chemical synthesis, nanocrystalline ε-MnO2 whiskers were formed on MXene nanosheet surfaces (ε-MnO2/Ti2CT x and ε-MnO2/Ti3C2T x ) to make nanocomposite electrodes for aqueous pseudocapacitors. The ε-MnO2 nanowhiskers increase the surface area of the composite electrode and enhance the specific capacitance by nearly 3 orders of magnitude compared to that of pure MXene-based symmetric supercapacitors. Combined with enhanced pseudocapacitance, the fabricated ε-MnO2/MXene supercapacitors exhibited excellent cycling stability with ∼88% of the initial specific capacitance retained after 10000 cycles which is much higher than pure ε-MnO2-based supercapacitors (∼74%). The proposed electrode structure capitalizes on the high specific capacitance of MnO2 and the ability of MXenes to improve conductivity and cycling stability.