Issue 33, 2022

Ascorbic acid-induced fiber-scrolling of titanium carbide Ti3C2Tx MXene

Abstract

Changing the morphology of two-dimensional materials often offers an efficient and effective means to exploit their electronic and mechanical properties. Two-dimensional materials such as graphene can be scrolled into one-dimensional fibers via simple sonication. Unfortunately, scrolling MXene nanosheets into fibers is quite challenging, especially Ti3C2Tx composed of three layers of titanium atoms and two layers of carbon atoms. Herein, we report a new method to fabricate MXene fibers via ascorbic acid (AA) induced scrolling of Ti3C2Tx nanosheets. An unusual AA-Ti3C2Tx interaction is discovered in that intercalated AA molecules bind to and interact with the Ti3C2Tx surface in the form of a hydrogen bonding-bonded assembly instead of as individual molecules, and a sheet-scrolling mechanism is proposed based on this interaction. The as-obtained MXene fibers exhibit a compact cross-section, and the diameter can be tailored from hundreds of nanometers to several micrometers through tuning the MXene/AA ratio. Moreover, the storage modulus of the MXene-fiber sponge attains its maximum value of ∼1 MPa when a unique morphology comprising both fibers and not-yet-scrolled sheets is presented. This work offers a new strategy of fiber-shaping MXenes for applications in structural composites and flexible electronics.

Graphical abstract: Ascorbic acid-induced fiber-scrolling of titanium carbide Ti3C2Tx MXene

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 May 2022
Accepted
20 Jul 2022
First published
03 Aug 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2022,12, 21600-21608

Ascorbic acid-induced fiber-scrolling of titanium carbide Ti3C2Tx MXene

J. Cao, Y. Wang, B. Wei, J. Ye and Q. Zhang, RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 21600 DOI: 10.1039/D2RA03174D

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