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Dissertation
MXene X-sublattice, surface chemistry, and morphology engineering
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Oct 2025
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00011241
Abstract
MXenes, a family of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides, carbonitrides, and nitrides discovered in 2011, have rapidly emerged as some of the most versatile materials in nanotechnology. Their unique combination of properties and broad range of potential applications has driven intensive research into effective, efficient, and environmentally benign methods for their synthesis and processing. This dissertation presents a unified framework for multiscale control of MXenes, connecting atomic-level surface chemistry to nanoconfined interlayers and mesoscale architectures. First, I define processing windows for Lewis-acid molten-salt etching and polarity-contrast delamination that preserve uniform halogen terminations while yielding large-area, low-defect flakes across carbide and carbonitride chemistries. With these disciplined materials, I quantify how intercalated counterions program temperature-addressable electronic transport: the onset/offset temperatures and loop area of the conductivity hysteresis are reproducible functions of confined water-termination interactions, independent of sweep protocol or extrinsic disorder. Complementary structural and spectroscopic probes establish that counterions set the energetic barriers between interlayer configurations accessed on cooling and released on heating. Finally, I translate the interfacial chemistry into a surfactant-free, scalable route to MXene nanoscrolls by engineering a transient solvent/lattice asymmetry across the sheet thickness, producing scroll architectures with tunable diameter and length while retaining metallic properties. Together, these results provide reproducible design rules--chemical, thermal, and architectural--for programming MXene structure and transport across length scales.
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Details
- Title
- MXene X-sublattice, surface chemistry, and morphology engineering
- Creators
- Teng Zhang
- Contributors
- Yury Gogotsi (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University
- Number of pages
- xxx, 227 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Materials (Science and) Engineering (Metallurgical Engineering) [Historical]; College of Engineering (1970-2026); Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991022148507104721