Hydrogen Bond Interaction Promotes Flash Energy Transport at MXene-Solvent Interface

Abstract

There are emerging applications for photothermal conversion utilizing MXene, but the mechanism under these applications related interfacial energy migration from MXene to the attached surface layer is still unknown. Here, the femtosecond pump–probe spectroscopy is employed to elucidate the ultrafast electronic energy dissipation pathways of MXene (Ti3C2T x ) under plasmonic excitation. The experimental results suggest that in water, nearly 80% energy in MXene gained from the photoexcitation quickly dissipates into surrounding water molecules within 7 ps as a hydrogen bond mediated fast channel, and the remaining energy vanishes with time constant ∼100 ps as a lattice motion mediated slow channel. This flash energy migration results in a prominent interfacial thermal conductance ∼162 MW·m–2·K–1 for the MXene–water interface. Tuning the solvent into ethanol could not only narrow the hydrogen bond mediated energy dissipation channel to 24% but also slow down the lattice motion mediated energy transport rate. Molecular dynamics simulation results further confirm that different solvents have significantly different hydrogen bond forming abilities on MXene surfaces. Our results suggest that the interfacial interaction is crucial for effective hydrogen bond formation on MXene surface to channel the excitation dissipation, providing important insights into the photothermal applications with MXene.

MXenes: Synthesis, Optical Properties, and Applications in Ultrafast Photonics

“…A very recent ultrafast study reported the dynamic processes of Ti 3 C 2 T x on different interfacial conditions, including aqueous solution, ethanol solution, and polymer mixture. [143] As shown in Figure 8d, the thermal dissipation pathways could be divided into a hydrogen bond dominated fast channel and a lattice motion mediated slow channel. Compared with MXene thermal dynamics in different solvents, the effective hydrogen bonding between Ti 3 C 2 T x and water molecules significantly promote fast interfacial energy migration, showing the prominent interfacial thermal conductance of Ti 3 C 2 T x -water larger than 100 MW K −1 m −2 .…”

“…c,d) Reproduced with permission. [143] Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society. e) Schematic for MXene-surfactant interface energy migration process.…”

“…d) MXene-solvent interfacial thermal energy migration pathways. c,d) Reproduced with permission [143]. Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society.…”

Simulation Meets Experiment: Unraveling the Properties of Water in Metal–Organic Frameworks through Vibrational Spectroscopy

“…Hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) between water and host materials has proven to be important for the structure and function of the latter. [1][2][3] Strong H-bonds can lead to the formation of extended networks that modulate fundamental processes, including hydration processes, 4 chemical synthesis and reactions, 5,6 heat dissipation, 7,8 and macroscopic structural formations. 7,[9][10][11] Under confinement, H-bonded networks are disrupted due to physical constraints and host-water interactions.…”

Rapid eradication of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and biofilms by MXene and near-infrared light through photothermal ablation

“…2b and Fig. S11a) could represent the MXene flakes' thermal energy decay [44]. The fitting results showed that proportion of the fast part of Ti 3 C 2 and S. aureus mixture is 9% less than that of Ti 3 C 2 in water, while the proportion of the slow part of Ti 3 C 2 and S. aureus mixture is 9% more than that of Ti 3 C 2 in water, indicating that the proportion of the fast part decreased, while the proportion of the slow part increased after mixing with S. aureus.…”