3D Porous Co3O4/MXene Foam Fabricated via a Sulfur Template Strategy for Enhanced Li/K-Ion Storage

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. 7999 - 8009
• Main Authors: Chang, Xiaqing, Zhu, Qizhen, Zhao, Qian, Zhang, Peng, Sun, Ning, Soomro, Razium A., Wang, Xiaoxue, Xu, Bin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 15.02.2023
• Subjects: anodes; durability; electrical conductivity; Energy, Environmental, and Catalysis Applications; foams; sulfur; rate performance; 3D porous MXene foam; lithium/potassium-ion batteries; sulfur template; Co3O4
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c19681

Co3O4 is a potential high-capacity anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs), but the poor electrical conductivity and large volume fluctuations during long-term cycling severely limit its cycle durability and rate capabilities, especially for PIBs with large K-ion size. Here, we propose a sulfur template route to fabricate an integral 3D porous Co3O4/MXene (Ti3C2T x ) foam using simple vacuum co-filtrating an aqueous dispersion of Co3O4, S and MXene followed by calcining to remove the S template. The 3D porous structure can easily accommodate the large volume changes of Co3O4 while maintains electrode structural integrity, allowing to realize outstanding long-term cycle stability when tested as anodes for both LIBs (620.4 mA h g–1 after 1000 cycles at 1 A g–1) and PIBs (134.1 mA h g–1 after 1000 cycles at 0.5 A g–1). The high metallic conductivity of the 3D porous MXene network further facilitates the electron/ion transmission, resulting in an improved rate capability of 390 mA h g–1 at 13 A g–1 for LIBs and 125.3 mA h g–1 at 1 A g–1 for PIBs. The robust performance of the 3D porous Co3O4/MXene foam reflects its perspective as a high-performance anode material for both LIBs and PIBs.