Science Daily August 31, 2018
A team of researchers in the US (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, Drexel University) has shown that by thermal exposure and electron-beam irradiation, hexagonal TiC single adlayers form on defunctionalized surfaces of Ti3C2 MXene at temperatures above 500 °C, generating new 2D materials Ti4C3 and Ti5C4, with the substrate being the source material. The work could lead to the development of bottom-up synthesis methods using substrates terminated with similar hexagonal-metal surfaces, for controllable synthesis of larger-scale and higher quality single-layer transition metal carbides… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
After a monolayer MXene is heated, functional groups are removed from both surfaces. Titanium and carbon atoms migrate from one area to both surfaces, creating a pore and forming new structures. Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Dept. of Energy; image by Xiahan Sang and Andy Sproles.