Titanium germanium carbide MAX phase electrocatalysts for supercapacitors and alkaline water electrolysis processes

Developing electrochemically active, stable, and low-cost electrocatalysts for electrochemical devices is a significant breakthrough. Accordingly, MAX phases, emerging three-dimensional materials, are considered outstanding candidates due to their excellent electrocatalytic and electrochemical properties . Herein, the titanium germanium carbide (Ti 3 GeC 2 ) MAX phase with a layered structure manufactured through reactive sintering was regarded as the electrocatalyst. In the current work, the electrocatalytic activity of the Ti 3 GeC 2 was investigated for electrochemical devices. It was observed that adding activated carbon to the Ti 3 GeC 2 enhances the conductivity and active area, leading to an excellent specific capacitance (349 Fg -1 ) for supercapacitors . Also, the capacitance of Ti 3 GeC 2 was increased by increasing the number of cyclic voltammetry cycles. In another application, Ti 3 GeC 2 showed substantial activity for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions in alkaline media. As a result, the alkaline water electrolysis system using Ti 3 GeC 2 showed the highest current density of 10 mA cm −2 at 1.36 V and outstanding stability over 400 cycles.