Authors
Verónica Montes-García, Ke Li, Kaitlyn Prenger, Xuyun Guo, Iwona Janica, Adrián Tamayo, Ivan Baginskiy, Veronika Zahorodna, Oleksiy Gogotsi, Paolo Samorì, Valeria Nicolosi, Artur Ciesielski
Published in
Nanoscale. Jul 12, 2026. Epub Jul 12, 2026.
Abstract
MXenes are emerging as promising electrode materials for energy storage applications owing to their high conductivity and redox-active surfaces. However, their inherent propensity to undergo oxidation is frequently regarded as a limitation. Here, we demonstrate that the routine washing step following molten-salt etching of Mo2CTx can be exploited as a controlled strategy to engineer Mo2CTx/MoOx hybrid interfaces. By systematically varying the washing duration in HCl/CuCl2 solution (30, 90, and 240 minutes), we precisely modulate the degree of Mo oxidation, with an additional H2O2 treatment serving as a reference for deliberate chemical oxidation. In-depth structural and spectroscopic analyses reveal two distinct oxidation mechanisms: the washing process induces selective Mo-centered oxidation that maintains the integrity of the carbide framework, resulting in conductive Mo2CTx/MoOx domains, whereas H2O2 oxidation also involves both Mo and C sites, yielding a hydroxylated surface that compromises long-term stability. The electrochemical performance in acidic electrolyte highlights the advantages of the washing protocol: Mo2C-90 delivers the highest capacitance (∼150 F g-1 at 10 mV s-1) with robust cycling stability (90% retention after 10 000 cycles). This study establishes washing-induced oxidation as a simple method for tailoring Mo2CTx MXenes in supercapacitor applications, transforming a standard synthesis into a deliberate tool for performance optimization.
PMID:
42437444
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 12 Jul 2026.
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