A Hybrid Assembly of MXene with NH₂−Si Nanoparticles Boosting Lithium Storage Performance

A facile hybrid assembly between Ti₃C₂T_x MXene nanosheets and (3-aminopropyl) triethoxylsilane-modified Si nanoparticles (NH₂−Si NPs) was developed to construct multilayer stacking of Ti₃C₂T_x nanosheets with NH₂−Si NPs assembling together (NH₂−Si/Ti₃C₂T_x). NH₂−Si/Ti₃C₂T_x exhibits a significantly enhanced lithium storage performance compared to pristine Si, which is attributed to the robust crosslinking architecture and considerably improved electrical conductivity as well as shorter Li⁺ diffusion pathways. The optimized NH₂−Si/Ti₃C₂T_x anode with Ti₃C₂T_x: NH₂−Si mass ratio of 4 : 1 displays an enhanced capacity (864 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 C) with robust capacity retention, which is significantly higher than those of NH₂−Si NPs and Ti₃C₂T_x anodes. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the important effect of the MXene-based electrode architecture on the electrochemical performance and can guide future work on designing high-performance Si/MXene hybrids for energy storage applications.