Laser-sculptured ultrathin transition metal carbide layers for energy storage and energy harvesting applications.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31308363.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-10999-z and PMC identifier 6629648.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Ultrathin transition metal carbides with high capacity, high surface area, and high conductivity are a promising family of materials for applications from energy storage to catalysis. However, large-scale, cost-effective, and precursor-free methods to prepare ultrathin carbides are lacking. Here, we demonstrate a direct pattern method to manufacture ultrathin carbides (MoC<sub>x</sub>, WC<sub>x</sub>, and CoC<sub>x</sub>) on versatile substrates using a CO<sub>2</sub> laser. The laser-sculptured polycrystalline carbides (macroporous, ~10-20 nm wall thickness, ~10 nm crystallinity) show high energy storage capability, hierarchical porous structure, and higher thermal resilience than MXenes and other laser-ablated carbon materials. A flexible supercapacitor made of MoC<sub>x</sub> demonstrates a wide temperature range (-50 to 300 °C). Furthermore, the sculptured microstructures endow the carbide network with enhanced visible light absorption, providing high solar energy harvesting efficiency (~72 %) for steam generation. The laser-based, scalable, resilient, and low-cost manufacturing process presents an approach for construction of carbides and their subsequent applications.