Highly Conductive Optical Quality Solution‐Processed Films of 2D Titanium Carbide

MXenes comprise a new class of solution‐dispersable, 2D nanomaterials formed from transition metal carbides and nitrides such as Ti 3 C 2 . Here, it is shown that 2D Ti 3 C 2 can be assembled from aqueous solutions into optical quality, nanometer thin films that, at 6500 S cm −1 , surpass the conductivity of other solution‐processed 2D materials, while simultaneously transmitting >97% of visible light per‐nanometer thickness. It is shown that this high conductivity is due to a metal‐like free‐electron density as well as a high degree of coplanar alignment of individual nanosheets achieved through spincasting. Consequently, the spincast films exhibit conductivity over a macroscopic scale that is comparable…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: DMR‐1310245
• DU
  Drexel University