Synthesis and microwave absorption of Ti3C2Tx MXene with diverse reactant concentration, reaction time, and reaction temperature

MXene materials with efficient electromagnetic (EM) microwave absorber applications are in high demand. Herein, the EM wave absorption properties of two-dimensional MXene Ti3C2Tx, fabricated by etching the Ti3AlC2 phase with an enchant of HCl and LiF, was thoroughly investigated over a frequency range of 2-18 GHz. In addition, the impact of three critical factors (reactant concentration, reaction time, and reaction temperature) on the morphology control and dielectric properties was discussed. With increasing degree of exfoliation, the multilayer structure of Ti3C2Tx changed gradually, thereby further influencing the microwave absorption properties. Among the etched samples, Ti3C2Tx prepared with 9 M HCl at 35 degrees C for 24 h exhibited an excellent reflection loss of -40.8 dB at 13.9 GHz with a thickness of 1.45 mm, while also possessed the broadest effective bandwidth, reaching 3.66 GHz at 1.68 mm. The demonstrated EM wave response mechanism, indicated that the conduction loss and polarization loss contribute significantly to the EM wave absorption performance. These findings endow the Ti3C2Tx material with an effective foundation for the construction of novel EM wave absorbers.