Halogenated Ti3C2 MXenes with Electrochemically Active Terminals for High-Performance Zinc Ion Batteries.

The class of two-dimensional metal carbides and nitrides known as MXenes offer a distinct manner of property tailoring for a wide range of applications. The ability to tune the surface chemistry for expanding the property space of MXenes is thus an important topic, although experimental exploration of surface terminals remains a challenge. Here, we synthesized Ti3C2 MXene with unitary, binary, and ternary halogen terminals, e.g., -Cl, -Br, -I, -BrI, and -ClBrI, to investigate the effect of surface chemistry on the properties of MXenes. The electrochemical activity of Br and I elements results in the extraordinary electrochemical performance of the MXenes as cathodes for aqueous zinc ion batteries. The -Br- and -I-containing MXenes, e.g., Ti3C2Br2 and Ti3C2I2, exhibit distinct discharge platforms with considerable capacities of 97.6 and 135 mAh·g-1. Ti3C2(BrI) and Ti3C2(ClBrI) exhibit dual discharge platforms with capacities of 117.2 and 106.7 mAh·g-1. In contrast, the previously discovered MXenes Ti3C2Cl2 and Ti3C2(OF) exhibit no discharge platforms and only ∼50% of capacities and energy densities of Ti3C2Br2. These results emphasize the effectiveness of the Lewis-acidic-melt etching route for tuning the surface chemistry of MXenes and also show promise for expanding the MXene family toward various applications.