2021/04/28 by Mikhail Volkov, Elena Willinger, Denis A. Kuznetsov +4 · 28 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #2D Materials and Applications #Advanced Memory and Neural Computing #Femtosecond #Laser #MXene and MAX Phase Materials #MXenes #Materials science #Metamaterial #Nanotechnology #Optics #Optoelectronics #Physics #Plasmon #Ultrashort pulse #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1021/acsnano.1c03635
published in ACS Nano 15(9), 14071-14079 (American Chemical Society)
arxiv created 2021/04/28 · openalex publication_date 2021/08/31 · arxiv updated 2021/10/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
MXenes are two-dimensional materials with a rich set of chemical and electromagnetic properties, the latter including saturable absorption and intense surface plasmon resonances. To fully harness the functionality of MXenes for applications in optics, electronics, and sensing, it is important to understand the interaction of light with MXenes on atomic and femtosecond dimensions. Here, we use ultrafast electron diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy to investigate the laser-induced structural dynamics of Ti 3 C 2 T x nanosheets. We find an exceptionally fast lattice response with an electron-phonon coupling time of 230 fs. Repetitive femtosecond laser excitation transforms Ti 3 C 2 T x through a structural transition into a metamaterial with deeply sub-wavelength nanoripples that are aligned with the laser polarization. By a further laser illumination, the material is reversibly photo-switchable between a flat and rippled morphology. The resulting nanostructured MXene metamaterial with directional nanoripples is expected to exhibit an anisotropic optical and electronic response as well as an enhanced chemical activity that can be switched on and off by light.