“…As exhibited in Figure 1c, the peak positions of C 1s, Ti 2p, Nb 3d, and O 1s of TNC-300, TNC-450, and TNC-600 have shifted towards higher binding energy, implying some phase changes must occur after calcination. As displayed in the high-resolution spectrum of Ti 2p (Figure 1d), TNC has 6 sets of standard peaks, [12] the signals at 454.68 and 460.81 eV are corresponded to the Ti 2p 3/2 and Ti 2p 1/2 , [68,69] while the binding energies of Ti 2p 3/2 and Ti 2p 1/2 in TNC-300, TNC-450, TNC-600 samples are shifted to 458.53 and 464.23 eV, further revealing the oxidation of Ti-C. In addition, most of the chemical bonds in TNC, such as Ti 3+ , Ti 2+ , Ti-O, Ti-C, become Ti-O after oxidation in TNC-300 and TNC-450.…”