Ag nanoparticles grafted vanadium carbide MXene as a superior anode material for lithium-ion battery: High capacity and long-term cycle capability

V 2 CT x MXene shows excellent potential in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its unique two-dimensional structure and rich surface chemistry. However, the low Li + -storage capacity contributed by the innate low conductivity seriously hinders its commercial application. Herein, Ag nanoparticles are grafted on the V 2 CT x MXene by a one-step reduced silver nitrate (AgNO 3 ). The obtained Ag nanoparticles are directly reduced from AgNO 3 by the -OH terminations of V 2 CT x MXene, which promote the conductivity of V 2 CT x /Ag. Besides, the Ag nanoparticles in the layered body structure have excellent structural strength, which boost the whole durability of the LIB by inhibiting the aggregation of V 2 CT x MXene. Further, the dependence of the battery performances on the Ag contents is investigated. We find that the most favorable Ag content is 4.0 at% which can simultaneously favor the transferability of electron and ion and the electrochemical kinetics to the most considerable extent. The V 2 CT x /Ag-40 achieves a specific capacity of 631 mAh g −1 at 0.05 A g −1 after 50 cycles, and even maintains a specific capacity of 298 mAh g −1 at 5 A g −1 after long-term 2000 cycles. The adopted in situ reduction strategy and the excellent electrochemical property of V 2 CT x /Ag nanostructure may be relevant for future anode material in LIBs. We focused on the in situ reaction mechanism and the treated V 2 CT x has a greatly improved specific capacity. • V 2 CT x /Ag MXene was synthesized by one step solution in situ reaction and the reaction mechanism was analyzed. • V 2 CT x /Ag MXene exhibited superior electrochemical performance for LIBs. • The effect of different content of surface AgNPs on V 2 CT x MXene was analyzed.