Synthesis of 2D material MXene from Ti3AlC2 MAX-phase for electromagnetic shielding applications

Abstract

Multi-layered Ti3C2TXMXene with F-/OH- termination was synthesized from high purity Ti3AlC2 MAX-phase powders by selectively etching away Al atoms using hydrochloride (HCl) + lithium fluoride (LiF).Single and few atomic layerMXene flakes were prepared by delaminating multi-layered MXene powders by sonication under flowing Argon gas. A characteristic peak of Ti3AlC2 MAX-phase ceramics at 9.5 observed in XRD patterns is shifted to lower value of 8.1 which confirms the conversion of Ti3AlC2 to Ti3C2TxMXene. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) image also shows a typical lamellar structure of few nanometer widths. Raman spectra obtained from MXene shows three broad peaks centred on 210, 397, and 610 cm −1 atypicalcharacteristic arising from Ti-C-Txatoms vibrationpresent inTi3C2TxMXene. The value of Electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) of Ti3C2TxMXene powder is of the order of 25 dB which makes it a promising candidate for EMI shielding applications.