Improvement of gas sensing property for two-dimensional Ti3C2Tx treated with oxygen plasma by microwave energy excitation

Abstract

Two-dimensional layered Ti3C2Tx MXene was prepared through hydrothermal etching method with LiF and hydrochloric (HCl) acid. Ti3C2Tx was further treated with oxygen plasma activated by microwave energy to obtain the activated Ti3C2Tx at different temperatures ranging from 350 °C to 550 °C. The gas-sensing properties of raw Ti3C2Tx and Ti3C2Tx activated with oxygen microwave plasma were tested toward different volatile organic compounds gases. The results indicated that Ti3C2Tx activated at 500 °C exhibited excellent gas-sensing properties at room temperature (25 °C) to 100 ppm ethanol with a value of 22.47, which is attributed to the enhancement of the amount of oxygen functional groups and defects on the MXene Ti3C2Tx film, and in turn to lead to more oxygen molecules adsorption and desorption reaction in the active defect sites. The enhancement of ethanol-sensing performance demonstrated that the activated Ti3C2Tx possess great potential in gas sensing.