Pseudocapacitive Ti-Doped Niobium Pentoxide Nanoflake Structure Design for a Fast Kinetics Anode toward a High-Performance Mg-Ion-Based Dual-Ion Battery

Magnesium-ion batteries (MIBs) have received increasing attention for next-generation energy storage recently because of the natural abundance, high capacity, and dendrite-free deposition of Mg. However, their applications are hindered by irreversible Mg anode plating in conventional electrolytes and the lack of cathode materials, demonstrating high working voltage, satisfactory Mg2+ diffusivity, and long cycling life. In this work, we first developed a novel magnesium-ion based dual-ion battery (Mg-DIB) by utilizing expanded graphite as the cathode and Ti-doped niobium pentoxide nanoflakes (Ti–Nb2O5 NFs) as the anode. The Ti–Nb2O5 NFs showed hierarchical structures of microspheres with diameters of 4–5 μm assembled by nanoflakes. For the first time, the Mg-ion storage mechanism in Ti–Nb2O5 NFs was investigated. Benefiting from the hierarchical structure design and pseudocapacitive intercalation behavior of Mg ions, the Ti–Nb2O5 NF anode exhibited fast Mg-ion diffusion. Consequently, the Mg-DIB exhibited a high discharge capacity of 93 mA h g–1 at 1 C (1 C corresponding to 100 mA g–1), along with good long-term cycling performance with a capacity retention of 79% at 3 C after 500 cycles. The Mg-DIB also demonstrated a capacity retention of 77% at 5C, indicating its good rate performance. Moreover, the Mg-DIB exhibited a high discharge medium voltage of ∼1.83 V, thus enabling a high energy density of 174 W h kg–1 at 183 W kg–1 and 122 W h kg–1 at a high power density of 845 W kg–1, among the best of the reported magnesium-ion full batteries. Our work provides a new strategy to improve the performance of MIBs and other rechargeable batteries.