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Understanding and Controlling Photothermal Responses in MXenes

Journal Article · · Nano Letters
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); SLAC
  2. University of Chicago, IL (United States)
  3. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  4. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  5. Stanford University, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  6. University of Chicago, IL (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM)

MXenes have the potential for efficient light-to-heat conversion in photothermal applications. To effectively utilize MXenes in such applications, it is important to understand the underlying nonequilibrium processes, including electron–phonon and phonon–phonon couplings. Here, we use transient electron and X-ray diffraction to investigate the heating and cooling of photoexcited MXenes at femtosecond to nanosecond time scales. Our results show extremely strong electron–phonon coupling in Ti3C2-based MXenes, resulting in lattice heating within a few hundred femtoseconds. We also systematically study heat dissipation in MXenes with varying film thicknesses, chemical surface terminations, flake sizes, and annealing conditions. We find that the thermal boundary conductance (TBC) governs the thermal relaxation in films thinner than the optical penetration depth. In conclusion, we achieve a 2-fold enhancement of the TBC, reaching 20 MW m–2 K–1, by controlling the flake size or chemical surface termination, which is promising for engineering heat dissipation in photothermal and thermoelectric applications of the MXenes.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF); National Science Foundation (NSF); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1997366
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2404500
Journal Information:
Nano Letters, Journal Name: Nano Letters Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 23; ISSN 1530-6984
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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