MXene-Based Mesoporous Nanosheets Toward Superior Lithium Ion Conductors

Although solid polymer electrolytes have some intrinsic advantages in synthesis and film processing compared with inorganic solid electrolytes, low ionic conductivities and mechanical moduli hamper their practical applications in lithium-based batteries. Here, an efficient strategy is developed to produce a unique solid polymer electrolyte containing MXene-based mesoporous silica nanosheets with a sandwich structure, which are fabricated via controllable hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate around the surface of MXene-Ti₃C₂ under the direction of cationic surfactants. Such unique nanosheets not only exhibit individual, thin, and insulated features, but also possess abundant functional groups in mesopores and on the surface, which are favorable for the formation of Lewis acid–base interactions with anions in polymer electrolytes such as poly(propylene oxide) elastomer, enabling the fast Li⁺ transportation at the mesoporous nanosheets/polymer interfaces. As a consequence, a solid polymer electrolyte with high ionic conductivity of 4.6 × 10⁻⁴ S cm⁻¹, high Young's modulus of 10.5 MPa, and long-term electrochemical stability is achieved.