ABSTRACT: MXene, a new series of 2D material,
has been steadily advancing its applications to a variety of fields, such as
catalysis, supercapacitor, molecular separation, electromagnetic wave
interference shielding. This work reports a carefully designed aqueous droplet
light heating system along with a thorough mathematical procedure, which
combined leads to a precise determination of internal light-to-heat conversion
efficiency of a variety of nanomaterials. The internal light-to-heat conversion
efficiency of MXene, more specifically Ti3C2, was
measured to be 100%, indicating a perfect energy conversion. Furthermore, a
self-floating MXene thin membrane was prepared by simple vacuum filtration and
the membrane, in the presence of a rationally chosen heat barrier, produced a
light-to-water-evaporation efficiency of 84% under one sun irradiation, which is
among the state of art energy efficiency for similar photothermal evaporation
system. The outstanding internal light-to-heat
conversion efficiency and great light-to-water evaporation efficiency reported
in this work suggest that MXene is a very promising light-to-heat conversion
material and thus deserves more research attentions toward practical
applications.
While continuing our efforts in photothermal
applications of MXene, graphene, etc., we also strive to turn these 2D
materials into membranes for effective water filtration.
