Journal article
The C/N ratio as a lever for infrared properties tuning in carbonitride MXenes
Materials today physics, v 58, 101860
Oct 2025
Abstract
MXenes have demonstrated a broad range of properties in the infrared (IR) range being either efficient thermal emitters of IR light, or highly reflective, similar to polished metals. A combination of tunable IR reflectivity with the unique physical and chemical properties of MXenes, such as low thermal conductivity and efficient light-to-heat conversion, offer opportunities for a range of applications. However, one needs to know the effect of elemental composition, particularly carbon and nitrogen content, to obtain IR properties meeting the needs of specific applications. This work investigates the tunability of properties in titanium carbonitride MXenes by varying their carbon-to-nitrogen ratio across four distinct compositions (2C:0N, 1.75C:0.25N, 1.5C:0.5N, and 1C:1N). Multiple experimental characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and thermal emissivity measurements, were combined with density functional theory (DFT) calculations to understand the influence of C/N ratio on infrared properties. The study reveals that the C/N ratio significantly affects the IR response of MXenes in the 1-25μm range. Higher carbon content enhances IR reflectance, supporting superior thermal management and IR stealth, while increased nitrogen content elevates the emissivity and alters the phonon absorption bands. These findings demonstrate that C/N ratio modulations enable precise tuning of IR properties in titanium carbonitride MXenes, making them promising materials for thermal management, sensing, and multispectral electromagnetic shielding applications.
[Display omitted]
•Chemical composition controls infrared properties in 2D MXene materials.•Carbon-rich MXenes reflect 94% of IR light, nitrogen-rich emit efficiently.•Structural characterization reveals systematic lattice changes with composition.•Temperature-dependent optical response shows 31.5% increase over 200 °C.
Metrics
15 Record Views
Details
- Title
- The C/N ratio as a lever for infrared properties tuning in carbonitride MXenes
- Creators
- Kevin Kim - Drexel UniversityTetiana Parker - Drexel UniversityB. Moses Abraham - Drexel UniversityTeng Zhang - Drexel UniversityAurélien Bruyant - Laboratory Light, Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies – L2n, University of Technology of Troyes & CNRS UMR 7076, Troyes Cedex, 10004, FranceJérémy Mallet - Laboratory Light, Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies – L2n, University of Technology of Troyes & CNRS UMR 7076, Troyes Cedex, 10004, FranceYury Gogotsi - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Materials today physics, v 58, 101860
- Publisher
- Elsevier; AMSTERDAM
- Number of pages
- 10
- Grant note
- Fulbright France program - U.S. National Science Foundation: CHE-2318105 (M-STAR CCI) United States-India Educational Foundation, New Delhi, IndiaFulbright-Kalam Postdoctoral Fellowship: 2980/FKPDR/2023
This work was supported by the Graduate School NANO-PHOT, France (Ecole Universitaire de Recherche, PIA3, contract ANR-18-EURE-0013) and region Grand-Est, France. The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding of the French ANR through the project Temposcopy (ANR-19-CE42-0008) as well as the ERDF support (CA0024 879) . Kevin Kim gratefully acknowledges financial support for this publication by the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and Fulbright France. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Fulbright Program, the Government of the United States, or the Fulbright France program. Development of MXenes with tunable chemistry was partially funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant CHE-2318105 (M-STAR CCI) . The authors thank Mathieu Morcrette and Aleena Gigi (Laboratoire de Reactivite et Chimie des Solides-LRCS) for XRD measurements. B.M.A. acknowledges United States-India Educational Foundation, New Delhi, India, for the Fulbright-Kalam Postdoctoral Fellowship (Award No. 2980/FKPDR/2023) .
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Materials Science and Engineering; A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001577287700001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105017736574
- Other Identifier
- 991022118072604721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
- Physics, Applied