Combination of High PH and an Antioxidant Improves Chemical Stability of Two-Dimensional Transition-Metal Carbides and Carbonitrides (MXenes) in Aqueous Colloidal Solutions
Abstract
MXenes, a large family of two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal carbides/nitrides, have attracted increased attention in recent years because of their excellent electronic, mechanical, thermal, and optical properties. Studying chemical properties of MXenes is important to prolong the shelf life of their colloids and provide robust performance of MXenes in devices and applications. While the role of MXene reactivity with the environment, including water and components of air, is becoming more recognized, less is known about the role of parameters influencing the reactivity. In this work, we investigate the individual and combined effects of the pH and antioxidant on chemical stability of Ti2CTx, Ti3CNTx, and Ti3C2TxMXenes using GC, XPS, UV-vis, and Raman spectroscopy. In contrast to indirect indicators of MXene degradation, such as film conductivity or performance in electrochemical energy storage systems, we focus on detection of reaction products as the most sensitive and direct way of monitoring the chemical transformations of MXenes. Based on our knowledge of MXene chemistry and interactions with the environment, we propose a combination of sodium hydroxide and sodium l-ascorbate to effectively slow down degradation of MXenes in colloidal solutions by suppressing their hydrolysis and oxidation reactions, respectively.
Recommended Citation
S. Huang and V. Mochalin, "Combination of High PH and an Antioxidant Improves Chemical Stability of Two-Dimensional Transition-Metal Carbides and Carbonitrides (MXenes) in Aqueous Colloidal Solutions," Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 61, no. 26, pp. 9877 - 9887, American Chemical Society, Jul 2022.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c00537
Department(s)
Chemistry
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1520-510X; 0020-1669
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2022 American Chemical Society, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
04 Jul 2022
PubMed ID
35714052
Comments
This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. MoMS 1930881. This work was also supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities 2232022D-03.