Nanotechnology

Electrode

Limiting

Electrical conductor

Anode

Slurry

Endocrinology

Engineering

Physical chemistry

Composite material

Aqueous solution

Chemistry

Materials science

MXenes

Silicon carbide

Lithium (medication)

Silicon

Optoelectronics

Medicine

Mechanical engineering

Nature Communications

The ever-increasing demands for advanced lithium-ion batteries have greatly stimulated the quest for robust electrodes with a high areal capacity. Producing thick electrodes from a high-performance active material would maximize this parameter. However, above a critical thickness, solution-processed films typically encounter electrical/mechanical problems, limiting the achievable areal capacity and rate performance as a result. Herein, we show that two-dimensional titanium carbide or carbonitride nanosheets, known as MXenes, can be used as a conductive binder for silicon electrodes produced by a simple and scalable slurry-casting technique without the need of any other additives. The nanosheets form a continuous metallic network, enable fast charge transport and provide good mechanical reinforcement for the thick electrode (up to 450 µm). Consequently, very high areal capacity anodes (up to 23.3 mAh cm −2 ) have been demonstrated.

High capacity silicon anodes enabled by MXene viscous aqueous ink