Amorphous cobalt boride nanoparticles incorporated vanadium carbide MXene composite for asymmetric supercapacitor applications

• Published in: International journal of energy research Vol. 46; no. 15; pp. 22474 - 22485
• Main Authors: Venkatkarthick, Radhakrishnan, Qin, Jiaqian, Maiyalagan, Thandavarayan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.12.2022
• Subjects: Activated carbon; amorphous; Amorphous materials; Asymmetry; Borides; Capacitance; Cathodes; Chemical reduction; Cobalt; cobalt boride; Electrical conductivity; Electrical resistivity; Electrochemistry; Electrode materials; Electrodes; Energy; Energy distribution; Energy storage; Energy technology; Fabrication; Graphene; Heavy metals; Metal compounds; Metals; MXene; MXenes; Nanoparticles; Physicochemical processes; Physicochemical properties; Specific energy; supercapacitor; Supercapacitors; Transition metal compounds; Two dimensional materials; Vanadium; Vanadium carbide
• ISSN: 0363-907X; 1099-114X
• DOI: 10.1002/er.8551

Summary The use of novel, low‐cost, and efficient electrode materials in high‐power energy technology is highly anticipated for the development of user‐friendly products. Recently, “MXenes” have been identified as a novel class of advanced two‐dimensional (2D) layered transition metal compounds that have piqued the interest of researchers in a variety of electrochemical applications due to their remarkable physicochemical properties that resemble other 2D materials such as graphene. Similarly, an amorphous transition metal boride compound has sparked considerable interest as a potential candidate for battery‐type supercapacitor electrodes. However, the concerns about MXene layer restacking and the low electrical conductivity of metal borides limit their usefulness. Herein, we present the fabrication of a novel metal boride‐MXene (CoB‐V‐MX) architecture using a simple one‐pot chemical reduction process of cobalt boride nanoparticles and V‐MXene flakes. An asymmetric hybrid supercapacitor (HSC) with activated carbon as the anode and the prepared composite as the cathode was developed. The HSC device can operate over a wider voltage range (1.6 V), distribute a high specific energy of 31.5 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 800 W kg−1, and retain up to 89.2% of its initial capacitance for up to 2500 charge‐discharge cycles, demonstrating the increased possibility of designing a novel composite architecture in advanced energy storage applications. A novel architecture of amorphous metal boride nanoparticles intercalated layered MXene composite configuration was successfully developed in this study using a simple one‐pot chemical reduction method involving cobalt boride and 2D‐vanadium carbide and used as a positive electrode in an asymmetric supercapacitor device. MXene's role as a host in the composite could effectively promote charge transportation, improved surface characteristics, electrical conductivity, effective prevention of metal boride particle agglomeration, and MXene restacking, resulting in improved mechanochemical stability and electrochemical performance.