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Chemical bonding of termination species in 2D carbides investigated through valence band UPS/XPS of Ti3C2T xMXene

Näslund, Lars Åke ; Mikkelä, Mikko Heikki LU ; Kokkonen, Esko LU orcid and Magnuson, Martin (2021) In 2D Materials 8(4).
Abstract

MXenes are technologically interesting 2D materials that show potential in numerous applications. The properties of the MXenes depend at large extent on the selection of elements that build the 2D MX-layer. Another key parameter for tuning the attractive material properties is the species that terminate the surfaces of the MX-layers. Although being an important parameter, experimental studies on the bonding between the MX-layers and the termination species are few and thus an interesting subject of investigation. Here we show that the termination species fluorine (F) bonds to the Ti3C2-surface mainly through Ti 3p - F 2p hybridization and that oxygen (O) bonds through Ti 3p - O 2p hybridization with a significant contribution of Ti 3d... (More)

MXenes are technologically interesting 2D materials that show potential in numerous applications. The properties of the MXenes depend at large extent on the selection of elements that build the 2D MX-layer. Another key parameter for tuning the attractive material properties is the species that terminate the surfaces of the MX-layers. Although being an important parameter, experimental studies on the bonding between the MX-layers and the termination species are few and thus an interesting subject of investigation. Here we show that the termination species fluorine (F) bonds to the Ti3C2-surface mainly through Ti 3p - F 2p hybridization and that oxygen (O) bonds through Ti 3p - O 2p hybridization with a significant contribution of Ti 3d and Ti 4p. The study further shows that the Ti3C2-surface is not only terminated by F and O on the threefold hollow face-centered-cubic site. A significant amount of O sits on a bridge site bonded to two Ti surface atoms on the Ti3C2-surface. In addition, the results provide no support for hydroxide (OH) termination on the Ti3C2-surface. On the contrary, the comparison of the valence band intensity distribution obtained through ultraviolet- and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with computed spectra by density of states, weighed by matrix elements and sensitivity factors, reveals that OH cannot be considered as an inherent termination species in Ti3C2T x . The results from this study have implications for correct modeling of the structure of MXenes and the corresponding materials properties. Especially in applications where surface composition and charge are important, such as supercapacitors, Li-ion batteries, electrocatalysis, and fuel- and solar cells, where intercalation processes are essential.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
2D materials, energy storage, molecular orbital, MXene, photon energy dependence, resonant PES, UPS
in
2D Materials
volume
8
issue
4
article number
045026
publisher
IOP Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85115199809
ISSN
2053-1583
DOI
10.1088/2053-1583/ac1ea9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
id
999b6af4-e534-4f48-a82d-e09b539975ae
date added to LUP
2021-09-28 11:53:35
date last changed
2022-04-27 04:15:48
@article{999b6af4-e534-4f48-a82d-e09b539975ae,
  abstract     = {{<p>MXenes are technologically interesting 2D materials that show potential in numerous applications. The properties of the MXenes depend at large extent on the selection of elements that build the 2D MX-layer. Another key parameter for tuning the attractive material properties is the species that terminate the surfaces of the MX-layers. Although being an important parameter, experimental studies on the bonding between the MX-layers and the termination species are few and thus an interesting subject of investigation. Here we show that the termination species fluorine (F) bonds to the Ti3C2-surface mainly through Ti 3p - F 2p hybridization and that oxygen (O) bonds through Ti 3p - O 2p hybridization with a significant contribution of Ti 3d and Ti 4p. The study further shows that the Ti3C2-surface is not only terminated by F and O on the threefold hollow face-centered-cubic site. A significant amount of O sits on a bridge site bonded to two Ti surface atoms on the Ti3C2-surface. In addition, the results provide no support for hydroxide (OH) termination on the Ti3C2-surface. On the contrary, the comparison of the valence band intensity distribution obtained through ultraviolet- and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with computed spectra by density of states, weighed by matrix elements and sensitivity factors, reveals that OH cannot be considered as an inherent termination species in Ti3C2T x . The results from this study have implications for correct modeling of the structure of MXenes and the corresponding materials properties. Especially in applications where surface composition and charge are important, such as supercapacitors, Li-ion batteries, electrocatalysis, and fuel- and solar cells, where intercalation processes are essential.</p>}},
  author       = {{Näslund, Lars Åke and Mikkelä, Mikko Heikki and Kokkonen, Esko and Magnuson, Martin}},
  issn         = {{2053-1583}},
  keywords     = {{2D materials; energy storage; molecular orbital; MXene; photon energy dependence; resonant PES; UPS}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{IOP Publishing}},
  series       = {{2D Materials}},
  title        = {{Chemical bonding of termination species in 2D carbides investigated through valence band UPS/XPS of Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T <sub>x</sub>MXene}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/ac1ea9}},
  doi          = {{10.1088/2053-1583/ac1ea9}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}