The evolution of energy storage is slowly charging towards a brave new future, and its name is MXenes – pronounced “Maxines”.

A team from Texas A&M University (TAMU) is focusing on developing a device that can power contemporary devices in a few seconds, as opposed to lithium-ion batteries which take several hours to fully charge a smartphone.

MXenes are nanoscaled, two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides which are squeezed between two metal layers. They are excellent conductors of electricity, are water-soluble and can be used as a building material with programmable characteristics. In short, they have a wide range of applications and can scale to a required size.

Dr Abdoulaye Djire and his TAMU team are working on expanding on MXenes’ potential as supercapacitors, which are able to store high volumes of energy and replenish that energy almost instantaneously.

“We hope this work paves the way to the development of energy storage devices that can be fully charged within seconds and that can last for days,” Says Dr Djire, who also admits that there’s still some way to go before the “full realisation of this energy storage technology.”

The technology was first documented in 2011, but it only truly gathered pace in 2017 when scientists took notice of its capabilities and started earnest research on the incredible material.

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