Layered niobium carbide enabling excellent kinetics and cycling stability of Li-Mg-B-H hydrogen storage material Layered niobium carbide enabling excellent kinetics

The Li-Mg-B-H composite(2LiBH_(4)+MgH_(2))has a high capacity of 11.4 wt%as a hydrogen storage material.However,the slow kinetics and poor cycling stability severely restrict its practical applications.In this work,a layered Nb_(2)C MXene was first synthesized and then introduced to tailor the kinetics and cycling stability of the Li-Mg-B-H composite.The milled 2LiH+MgB_(2)composites were initially hydrogenated to obtain the 2LiBH_(4)+MgH_(2)composites.The 2LiBH_(4)+MgH_(2)+5wt%Nb_(2)C can release 9.0 wt%H_(2)in 30 min at 400℃,while it is only 2.7 wt%for the undoped 2LiBH_(4)+MgH_(2).The dehydrogenation activation energies of MgH_(2)and LiBH_(4)are 123 and 154 kJ·mol^(-1)respectively for the 5 wt%Nb_(2)C-doped composite,lower than the undoped composite(164 and 165 kJ·mol^(-1)).The 2LiBH_(4)+MgH_(2)+5 wt%Nb_(2)C possesses excellent cycling stability,with the reversible capacity only slightly reduced from 9.4 wt%for the 1st cycle to 9.3 wt%for the 20th cycle.Nb_(2)C keeps stable in the composite and acts as an efficient catalyst for the Li-Mg-B-H composite.It is believed that both the layered structure and the active Nb element contribu te to the enhanced hydrogen storage performances of the Li-Mg-B-H composite.This work confirms that the Nb_(2)C MXene with layered stru cture has a significant enhancing impact on the Li-Mg-B-H hydrogen storage materials,which is different from the bulk NbC.