When it comes to cell phones, there are fewer things more frustrating than a short battery life. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University reported a novel and scalable approach to prepare electrodes from atomic thin 2D nanosheets in the vertical orientation via self-assembly (see publication in Nature). The method marries soft matter assembly and functional hard nanomaterials by creating a coherent and long-range ordered liquid crystal phase of 2D sheets of titanium carbide, Ti3C2, a member of the MXene family. The resulting electrode films show rapid ion diffusion in thick films, retaining almost 100 % of the capacitance after 20,000 cycles of galvanostatic cycling at a rate of 20 A/g, and nearly thickness-independent (up to 200 micrometers, or 0.2 mm).
Making Atomic thin sheets stand up for better energy storage
