In Situ Growth of Ni-MOF Nanorods Array on Ti 3 C 2 T x Nanosheets for Supercapacitive Electrodes.

For the energy supply of smart and portable equipment, high performance supercapacitor electrode materials are drawing more and more concerns. Conductive Ni-MOF is a class of materials with higher conductivity compared with traditional MOFs, but it continues to lack stability. Specifically, MXene (Ti 3 C 2 T x ) has been employed as an electrochemical substrate for its high mechanical stability and abundant active sites, which can be combined with MOFs to improve its electrochemical performance. In this paper, a novel Ni-MOF nanorods array/Ti 3 C 2 T x nanocomposite was prepared via a facile hydrothermal reaction, which makes good use of the advantages of conductive Ni-MOF and high strength Ti 3 C 2 T x . The high density forest-like Ni-MOF array in situ grown on the surface of Ti 3 C 2 T x can provide abundant active electrochemical sites and construct a pathway for effective ion transport. The formation of a "Ti-O···Ni" bond accomplished during an in situ growth reaction endows the strong interfacial interaction between Ni-MOF and Ti 3 C 2 T x . As a result, the Ni-MOF/Ti 3 C 2 T x nanocomposite can achieve a high specific capacitance of 497.6 F·g -1 at 0.5 A·g -1 and remain over 66% of the initial capacitance when the current density increases five times. In addition, the influence of the Ti 3 C 2 T x concentration and reaction time on the morphology and performance of the resultant products were also investigated, leading to a good understanding of the formation process of the nanocomposite and the electrochemical mechanism for a supercapacitive reaction.