Nitrogen-Anchored Boridene Enables Mg–CO₂ Batteries with High Reversibility

Abstract

Nanoscale defect engineering plays a crucial role in incorporating extraordinary catalytic properties in two-dimensional materials by varying the surface groups or site interactions. Herein, we synthesized high-loaded nitrogendoped Boridene (N-Boridene (Mo 4/3 (B n N 1−n ) 2−m T z ), N-doped concentration up to 26.78 at %) nanosheets by chemical exfoliation followed by cyanamide intercalation. Three different nitrogen sites are observed in N-Boridene, wherein the site of boron vacancy substitution mainly accounts for its high chemical activity. Attractively, as a cathode for Mg−CO 2 batteries, it delivers a long-term lifetime (305 cycles), high-energy efficiency (93.6%), and ultralow overpotential (∼0.09 V) at a high current of 200 mA g −1 , which overwhelms all Mg−CO 2 batteries reported so far. Experimental and computational studies suggest that N-Boridene can remarkably change the adsorption energy of the reaction products and lower the energy barrier of the rate-determining step (*MgCO 2 → *MgCO 3 •xH 2 O), resulting in the rapid reversible formation/ decomposition of new MgCO 3 •5H 2 O products. The surging Boridene materials with defects provide substantial opportunities to develop other heterogeneous catalysts for efficient capture and converting of CO 2 .