Annealing TiCT MXenes to Control Surface Chemistry and Friction.

Although surface terminations (such as ═O, -Cl, -F, and -OH) on MXene nanosheets strongly influence their functional properties, synthesis of MXenes with desired types and distribution of those terminations is still challenging. Here, it is demonstrated that thermal annealing helps in removing much of the terminal groups of molten salt-etched multilayered (ML) TiCT. In this study, the chloride terminations of molten salt-etched ML-TiCT were removed via thermal annealing at increased temperatures under an inert (argon) atmosphere.