2D Ti4AlN3 (MAX): An excellent infrared nonlinear absorption material

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have drawn more attention since the discovery of graphene. The exploration of the nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of 2D materials has become more urgent. In this work, Ti4AlN3 nanosheets with a thickness of about 1.7–1.9 nm were prepared using the liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) method, and the open aperture (OA) Z-scan technique was used to explore the broadband nonlinear absorption (NLA) properties of 2D Ti4AlN3 nanosheets at three wavelengths, namely, 355, 532, and 1064 nm. According to the results, 2D Ti4AlN3 nanosheets exhibited excellent optical limiting (OL) behavior in all three bands, especially in the infrared (IR) band. The large two-photon absorption (TPA) coefficient and low OL excitation threshold indicated that Ti4AlN3 had great potential as OL material in the IR band for applications such as optical filters, protection of the human eye, laser protection, etc.