Defect Engineering to Boost the Lithium-Ion Storage Performance of Ti₃C₂T_x MXene Induced by Plasma-Assisted Mechanochemistry

Defects, exhibiting obvious influences on the periodic crystal structure and the surrounding charge distribution, can affect the physical and chemical properties of the electrode material significantly. In this work, a plasma-assisted mechanochemistry route is employed to construct defects in Ti3C2Tx MXene, boosting the lithium-ion storage performance when used as an anode in lithium-ion batteries. After the plasma-assisted mechanochemistry treatment, the layer structure became distorted and abundant defects acted as additional active sites for lithium-ion storage. As a result, the plasma-assisted mechanochemistry-treated Ti3C2Tx MXene (PM-Ti3C2Tx) delivers enhanced lithium storage capacity (242 mAh g–1 at a current density of 100 mA g–1) and extraordinary rate performance (100 mAh g–1 at 5 A g–1) as well as promising cycling stability. This work provides a route to boost the electrochemical energy storage performance of Ti3C2Tx MXene electrode materials.