Ta4C3 MXene as supercapacitor electrodes

Abstract MXenes, 2D layered solids is a hot topic in 2D materials proving its potential for various niche applications. The present work focuses on the synthesis of tantalum carbide MXene sheets by etching the intermediate “aluminium” from the parental Ta4AlC3 MAX phase using hydro fluoricacid. The synthesized MXene' were analyzed by X-ray diffraction for its structural analysis, FE-SEM, TEM for morphological studies and Raman spectroscopy for vibrational analysis. XRD analysis detailed on the crystal structure revealing that the tantalum carbide MXene is a hexagonal crystal lattice. FESEM revealed that the morphology of the synthesized tantalum carbide were layered solid structures and micro Raman vibrational studies reveal the lower vibrational modes, which attributes to the intermediate “A” element, which were not visible due to the absence of aluminium after etching. Furthermore, the synthesized MXene were tested for its electrochemical behavior towards electrochemical energy storage applications using techniques like cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronopotentiometry (CP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Characterization and electrochemical testing showed promising performance in electrochemical charge storage applications.