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 POSTECH's Professor Changshin Jo from the GIFT and Professor Changyong Lim from the Department of Energy Chemical Engineering at Kyungpook National University announced on the 2nd that they have developed a technology to create a three-dimensional porous MXene/TiO₂ composite film in less than 6 milliseconds (ms, 1/1000th of a second) by integrating flashlight technology with MXene, which is being recognized as the next-generation two-dimensional material following graphene.

This research was supported by the Carbon Neutral Intelligent Energy System Regional Innovation Leading Research Center at Kyungpook National University. The corresponding authors are Professors Changyong Lim and Changshin Cho, and the first authors are Woong Paeng, a master’s student at Kyungpook National University, and Jungsoo Hong, a doctoral student at POSTECH. The research findings were published in the prestigious international journal 'Chemical Engineering Journal'.

MXene is a two-dimensional material with a thin plate structure composed of titanium and carbon atoms. It is less than 1 nanometer (nm) thick and is noted for its excellent electrical conductivity and mechanical properties, making it a promising material for next-generation energy storage devices. One advantage of fabricating MXene into a film is that it does not require a current collector. However, when MXene is fabricated into film form, the layered structure of the MXene sheets can result in reduced electrolyte penetration, leading to potential performance degradation when used in energy storage devices.

While numerous studies have attempted to widen the interlayer spacing and create a porous structure, previous techniques often required mixing with other chemicals or additional lengthy heat treatments, posing environmental, energy, and mass production challenges.

The research team successfully introduced flashlight technology to convert MXene films into a porous structure. They produced a porous MXene/TiO₂ composite under ambient conditions in less than 6 milliseconds by exposing MXene films to white light from a xenon lamp. The white light absorbed by the MXene film raises its temperature, akin to how black clothing absorbs sunlight and converts it into heat, raising the garment's temperature. The increased temperature of the MXene film's surface allows it to react with oxygen molecules to synthesize titanium dioxide. Simultaneously, water molecules within the MXene film vaporize due to the sudden temperature rise, expanding the interlayer spacing and creating a porous structure. Unlike previous methods, this new technique can create porous and composite structures at room temperature and atmospheric pressure within seconds, allowing for low-cost mass production.