In situ XRD study of T3AlC2 (Max-phase) reaction with LiF/HCl and water to produce MXene

The goal of this project is to study MXene Ti3C2Tx synthesis in situ using reaction of T3AlC2 (MAX-phase) with LiF/HCl. So far, this method was studied only ex situ by characterization of reaction products and only after washing these products with water. The structural changes due to exposure of Max phase to etching solution will be studied in our experiments. We expect to reveal possible intermediate phases, effects of lattice expansion and swelling of Max phase in process of synthesis. According to literature data, variations of synthesis procedure (temperature, duration of annealing and loading proportion between initial components) strongly affect properties of final MXene in several applications, e.g. as supercapacitor electrode. We will perform set of in situ synthesis experiments with progressively increased load temperature of reaction (400C to 600C) and increased excess of LiF/HCl. Separate experiment will be performed with water and ethanol washing of reaction products.