Electrical and Elastic Properties of Individual Single‐Layer Nb₄C₃T_x MXene Flakes

Abstract

2D carbides and nitrides (MXenes) are widely recognized for their exceptional promise for numerous applications. However, physical property measurements of their individual monolayers remain very limited despite their importance for revealing the intrinsic physical properties of MXenes. The first mechanical and electrical measurements of individual single‐layer flakes of Nb4C3Tx MXene, which are prepared via an improved synthetic method are reported. Characterization of field‐effect transistor devices based on individual single‐layer Nb4C3Tx flakes shows an electrical conductivity of 1024 ± 165 S cm−1, which is two orders of magnitude higher than the previously reported values for bulk Nb4C3Tx assemblies, and an electron mobility of 0.41 ± 0.27 cm2 V−1 s−1. Atomic force microscopy nanoindentation measurements of monolayer Nb4C3Tx membranes yield an effective Young's modulus of 386 ± 13 GPa, assuming a membrane thickness of 1.26 nm. This is the highest value reported for nanoindentation measurements of solution‐processable 2D materials, revealing the potential of Nb4C3Tx as a primary component for various mechanical applications. Finally, the agreement between the mechanical properties of 2D Nb4C3Tx MXene and cubic NbC suggests that the extensive experimental data on bulk carbides could be useful for identifying new MXenes with improved functional characteristics.

pH, Nanosheet Concentration, and Antioxidant Affect the Oxidation of Ti3C2Tx and Ti2CTx MXene Dispersions

“…MXenes are a family of transition metal carbides, carbonitrides, and nitrides with layered 2D nanostructures and have a general formula M n +1 X n T x , where M represents an early transition metal element such as titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), and niobium (Nb), X is carbon and/or nitrogen, T refers to one or multiple terminal groups (OH, O, F), n usually ranges from 1 to 3, and x reflects the number of terminal groups. [ 1–5 ] MXenes have drawn much attention for their potential use in energy storage, [ 1,6 ] sensing technology, [ 7,8 ] functional coatings, [ 9–11 ] plasmonics, [ 12 ] and catalytic applications [ 13–15 ] due to their high electrical conductivity, hydrophilicity, and surface charge. Most of those properties can be traced back to their metallic‐like 2D structure and functional groups attached during the etching and delamination processes.…”

Deformation of Bioinspired MXene Based Polymer Composites with Brick and Mortar Structures: Computational Analysis

“…Both MD and experimental investigation of the effect of bonding can be adopted to the models presented in this paper. Several new MXenes [54] that are being discovered can be adopted to the models developed in this paper as well, particularly, the numerical models. Finally, the micromechanical models developed in this paper form a basis for multi-scale study of MXene mechanical properties in future.…”

Bioencapsulated MXene Flakes for Enhanced Stability and Composite Precursors

“…2D functional materials such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, and hexagonal boron nitride have garnered much interest in the scientific community due to their unique chemical, electrical, photonic, and structural properties as pure materials and as components of composites. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] In recent years, a novel family of 2D materials known as MXenes [9,10] has become the subject of intense research due to their high electrical conductivity reaching higher than 15000 S cm −1 (Ti 3 C 2 ) [11] coupled with high Young's modulus values, 330 ± 30 GPa for Ti 3 C 2 [12] and 386 ± 13 GPa for Nb 4 C 3, [13] among solutionprocessed 2D materials. [12,14,15] Their rich surface chemis-bonding between chains such as β-sheets and random coils that determine the size of each block and also the ultimate mechanical strength.…”