Preparation of a Silicon/MXene Composite Electrode by a High-Pressure Forming Method and Its Application in Li+-Ion Storage

The main component of high-capacity silicon-based electrodes is silicon powder, which necessitates intricate processing to minimize volume growth and powder separation while guaranteeing the ideal Si content. This work uses the an situ high-pressure forming approach to create an MXene/m-Si/MXene composite electrode, where MXene refers to Ti₃C₂T_X, and m-Si denotes two-phase mixed nano-Si particles. The sandwich shape promotes silicon's volume growth and stops active particles from spreading. The conductive structure of Ti₃C₂T_X MXene increases the efficiency of charge transfer while reducing internal resistance. After 100 cycles, the composite electrode's original capacity of 1310.9 mAh g^-1 at a current density of 0.5 A g^-1 is maintained at 781.0 mAh g^-1. These findings lay the foundation for further investigations into Si matrix composite electrodes.