Fabrication of PANI@Ti3C2Tx/PVA hydrogel composite as flexible supercapacitor electrode with good electrochemical performance

Developing a new strategy to effectively prevent the restacking of MXene nanosheets will have significant impacts on designing flexible supercapacitor electrodes. Herein, a novel Ti3C2Tx/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) porous sponge with 3D interconnected structures is prepared by sol-gel and freeze-dried methods. This Ti3C2Tx/PVA porous sponge is used as the template of in-situ polyaniline (PANI) polymerization, and the fabricated PANI@Ti3C2Tx/PVA hydrogel composite is applied as flexible supercapacitors electrodes. 1D conductive polymer chains PVA could increase the interlayer spacing of Ti3C2Tx nanosheets, which is beneficial to expose more electrochemical active sites. The supercapacitor based on PANI@Ti3C2Tx/PVA hydrogel composite exhibits the coexistence of double-layer capacitance and pseudocapacitance behavior. This supercapacitor shows a maximum areal specific capacitance of 103.8 mF cm(-2) at 2 A m(-2), and it also exhibits a maximum energy density of 9.2 mu Wh.cm(-2) and an optimum power density of 800 mu W cm(-2). The capacitance of this supercapacitor is almost not change under different bending angles. Moreover, 99% capacitance retention is achieved after 10 000 charge/ discharge cycles of the supercapacitor. The synergistic effect between PANI and Ti3C2Tx/PVA composite may improve the number of reactive sites and provide efficient channels for ion diffusion/electron transport.

Automated summary

Developing a new strategy to prevent the restacking of MXene nanosheets is crucial for designing flexible supercapacitor electrodes. In this study, a novel Ti3C2Tx/PVA porous sponge was prepared and used as a template for in-situ PANI polymerization. The resulting PANI@Ti3C2Tx/PVA hydrogel composite exhibited both double-layer capacitance and pseudocapacitance behavior, and demonstrated excellent capacitance, energy density, and power density. The capacitance of this supercapacitor remained almost unchanged under different bending angles, and showed 99% capacitance retention after 10,000 charge/discharge cycles.