Preparation of Ti3AlC2 MAX-phase as a precursor material using industrial waste carbon flex for MXene synthesis

Abstract

MAX phase represents a new class of solids that combine some of the best attributes of metals and ceramics, exhibiting unusual, mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. Further Ti3AlC2 MAX phase is exfoliated to create 2D nanosheet material called Ti3C2 MXene and both have unmatched qualities for difficult and unusual applications. The Ti3AlC2 MAX phase powder is the precursor material to synthesize the Ti3C2 MXene nanosheets, but the cost effective synthesis of Ti3AlC2 powder is still a challenging problem which ultimately decides the quality and cost of Ti3C2 MXene. In this paper, we present the novel synthesis of Ti3AlC2 MAX phase using carbon flex generated as an industrial waste from aluminum, Steel, and other metal industries in composites production. To the best of our knowledge we first time novely report the use of Industrial waste carbon flex as a base carbon material to partially replace commercial graphitic carbon powder in Ti3C2 synthesis. The effect of adding carbon flexes precursor to synthesizing Ti3AlC2 MAX phase solving many current challenges. In present work we comparatively report the physicochemical study of the MAX phase synthesized with three different carbon precursors to establish the role of industrial waste carbon flex in the quantitative growth of Ti3C2MXene as the final product.