LAUSR

Electrochromic supercapacitors (ECSCs) have recently received growing attention for potential smart energy storage components in intelligent electronics. However, in the development of ECSCs, the design and assembly of high-performance electrode materials remain ongoing challenges. In this study, Ti3C2Tx MXene and polyoxotungstate (P2W18) were deposited on TiO2 nanowires to construct a unique three-dimensional (3D) porous hybrid film, NW@MXene/P2W18, via a convenient layer-by-layer self-assembly approach. The 3D porous structure of the nanocomposite reduced the aggregation and stacking of Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets during self-assembly, leading to the formation of unobstructed ion diffusion channels and interfacial charge transfer between adjacent layers, resulting in a good electrochemical performance. Compared to the tightly packed structure, the porous hybrid film demonstrated an enhanced electrochromic energy storage performance with a higher areal capacitance (i.e., 19.0 mF cm-2 at a current density of 0.6 mA cm-2), in addition to a high cycling stability (i.e., 90.7% retention rate after 2000 cycles), and an excellent color rendering efficiency. Subsequently, an asymmetric ECSC was fabricated using an NW@MXene/P2W18 film as the cathode and a TiO2 nanowire film as the anode. This ECSC exhibited a high areal capacitance of 4.0 mF cm-2 at a current density of 0.1 mA cm-2 with a wide operating window of 4.5 V, whilst also achieving high-speed color switching between olive green and dark blue during the charge/discharge processes, ultimately offering new avenues for the development of electrochromic energy storage electrode materials and the design of novel devices.