Fabrication and investigation of electrically conductive spark plasma sintered polypyrrole-based MXene–Ti₃C₂Tx hybrid nanoarchitectonics for electrode material

In this study, the preparation process, fabrication technique, and characterization of spark plasma sintered (SPS) MXene–Ti₃C₂Tx–polypyrrole (MX–PPy) nanocomposites for energy storage applications are presented. The investigation of the electrical conductivity, elemental mapping, surface morphology, particle size, structural analysis, thermal stability, chemical features, and specific capacity of SPS MX–PPy nanocomposite was examined by electrical conductivity measuring equipment (ECME), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction analyzer (XRD), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer, and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The as-prepared MXene (MX), through an electrochemical process, was SPS with polypyrrole (PPy) with different MX loading at the temperature of 280 °C, the heating rate of 100 degrees/mins and pressure of 50 MPa. The fabricated MX–PPy nanocomposites showed different electrical conductivities, with the sintered nanocomposite at 0.5 mass fraction of MX showing the optimal electrical conductivity of 352.69 S/m and a total weight loss of approximately 0.9% at 450 °C. More so, the particle size of each nanocomposite ranges from 50 to 200 nm as evident in the TEM analysis. Also, the morphological studies on the nanocomposites showed the intercalation of PPy in-between the MX nanosheets for MX inclusion at 0.5 mass fraction. Finally, the specific capacity of the sintered nanocomposite with 0.5 mass fraction of MX, is 271 mAh/g, as calculated from CV test, which suggests such material to be a viable electrode for energy storage applications.Please check and confirm the author names and initials are correct. Also, kindly confirm the details in the metadata are correct.The author names and initials are correct, including the details in the metadata.