High-performance flexible energy storage: Decorating wrinkled MXene with in situ grown Cu2O nanoparticles

The precise design and fabrication of electrode materials is important for the development of high-performance flexible supercapacitors. Cu2O/MXene film electrodes with an interconnected conductive network structure are prepared in this work by in situ growth of Cu2O nanoparticles in a Ti3C2Tx dispersion, followed by alkali induction and vacuum filtration. The interconnected crimpled Ti3C2Tx structure produced by alkali induction not only works as the self-supported conductive network of the thin film electrode but also demonstrates sufficient open pores and high surface area, which can promote electrolyte penetration and increase active sites for energy storage. The synergy between Cu2O nanoparticles and the crimpled Ti3C2Tx framework leads to good structural stability and electrochemical performance. The results show that the Cu2O/MXene electrode exhibits a high specific area capacitance of 1518 mF cm−2 in 1 M LiCl electrolyte. In addition, the all-solid-state flexible supercapacitor fabricated with the Cu2O/MXene electrode exhibits excellent cyclic stability and flexibility; the capacity retains 94.3% after 10,000 charge and discharge cycles, and the energy storage performance remains stable after 50 mechanical bending cycles.