A flexible hard carbon microsphere/MXene film as a high-performance anode for sodium-ion storage

Hard carbon is considered the most promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries, but its volume change during sodiation/desodiation limits its cycle life. Hard carbon microspheres (HCSs) with no binder were composited with a MXene film to form an electrode and its sodium storage properties were studied. The microspheres were prepared using Shanxi aged vinegar as a liquid carbon source. Two-dimensional Ti3C2Tx MXene (T is a functional group) was used as a multifunctional conductive binder to fabricate the flexible electrodes. Remarkably, because of the three-dimensional conductive network, the HCS/Ti3C2Tx film electrode has a high capacity of 346 mAh g−1, excellent rate performance and outstanding cycling stability over 1 000 cycles. This remarkable electrochemical performance indicates that the flexible film is a very promising anode for next-generation sodium-ion batteries.