MXenes as Electrode Materials for High Performance Rechargeable Batteries and Highly Efficient Electrocatalysis

The ever-increasing demand for renewable energy has urged the development of new materials for the new-generation energy storage and conversion. Among all the candidature materials, 2D transition metal carbides, carbonitrides and nitrides (often referred to as MXene) have drawn intensive attention owing to their excellent electrical conductivity and unique chemical and physical properties. Our research shows that MXene can be applied as host materials for anchoring single atoms to be used in electrochemical hydrogen generation [1] and carbon dioxide conversion [2], as well as composite materials for the application in new-generation batteries with excellent electrochemical performance such as in lithium-sulfur batteries [3, 4], lithium-iodine batteries [5], lithium/sodium-selenium batteries [6], sodium-ion batteries [7], sodium-sulfur batteries [8], and potassium-sulfur batteries [9]. Moreover, the careful design of the material architecture of MXenes has endowed the application for the desalination of saline water [10]. The excellent performances indicate that the MXene-based materials are the promising materials for the applications in the field of energy conversion and storage.<br/><br/><b>References: </b><br/>[1] J. Zhang, Y. Zhao, X. Guo, C. Chen, C.-L. Dong, R.-S. Liu, C.-P. Han, Y. Li, Y. Gogotsi, G.X. Wang, <b><i>Nature Catalysis</i></b>, 1 (2018) 985.<br/>[2] D. Zhao, Z. Chen, W. Yang, S. Liu, X. Zhang, Y. Yu, W.-C. Cheong, L. Zheng, F. Ren, G. Ying, X. Cao, D. Wang, Q. Peng, G.X. Wang, C. Chen, <b><i>J. Am. Chem. Soc.</i></b>, 141 (2019) 4086.<br/>[3] W. Bao, D. Su, W. Zhang, X. Guo, G.X. Wang, <b><i>Adv. Funct. Mater.</i></b>, 26 (2016) 8746-8756.<br/>[4] W. Bao, L. Liu, C. Wang, S. Choi, D. Wang, G.X. Wang, <b><i>Adv. Energy Mater.</i></b>, 8 (2018) 1702485.<br/>[5] X. Tang, D. Zhou, P. Li, X. Guo, C. Wang, F. Kang, B. Li, G. Wang, <b><i>ACS Cent. Sci.</i></b>, 5 (2019) 365.<br/>[6] F. Zhang, X. Guo, P. Xiong, J. Zhang, J. Song, K. Yan, X. Gao, H. Liu, G. Wang, <b><i>Adv. Energy Mater.</i></b>, 10 (2020) 2000446.<br/>[7] X. Guo, W. Zhang, J. Zhang, D. Zhou, X. Tang, X. Xu, B. Li, H. Liu, G. Wang, <b><i>ACS Nano</i></b>, 14 (2020) 3651-3659.<br/>[8] W. Bao, C. E. Shuck, W. Zhang, X. Guo, Y. Gogotsi, G. Wang, <b><i>ACS Nano</i></b>, 13 (2019) 11500-11509.<br/>[9] X. Tang, D. Zhou, P. Li, X. Guo, B. Sun, H. Liu, K. Yan, Y. Gogotsi, G. Wang, <b><i>Adv. Mater.</i></b>, 32 (2020) e1906739.<br/>[10] W. Bao, X. Tang, X. Guo, S. Choi, C. Wang, Y. Gogotsi, G. Wang, <b><i>Joule</i></b>, 2 (2018) 778-787.