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Controllable preparation of ultrathin MXene nanosheets and their excellent QCM humidity sensing properties enhanced by fluoride doping

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Abstract

A 2D ultrathin MXene nanosheet was prepared under controlled conditions and employed as a sensitive film to construct a QCM (quartz crystal microbalance) humidity sensor by a dip coating method. The MXene nanosheets were obtained by dislodging the element A from the MAX phase by a facile liquid phase etching method. The morphology and composition of the MXene nanosheets were characterized by means of a number of advanced instruments. It was found that the sample is an ultrathin graphene-like nanosheet. The sensing test results showed that the sensor has a 12.8 Hz/% RH sensitivity, 6 s and 2 s (@ 90%) response/recovery time, maximum humidity hysteresis of 1.16% RH, good stability, and selectivity. Finally, the enhanced humidity response mechanism of the MXene nanosheets was explored by density-functional theory (DFT) calculation and experimental verification. The DFT simulation together with comparison of fluoride-free sample revealed that F elements on the surface of the MXene nanosheets play a more important role in improving humidity responses than OH groups. The results present a new strategy to enhance humidity sensing performance of sensing materials by F− doping or decoration. Thus, the sensor has bright potential for humidity sensing.

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Funding

This work is supported by the Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology, China (No. 17010500500) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 61371021). The authors also acknowledge the support of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (Peak Discipline Construction program).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, NEST Lab., College of Science, Shanghai University, 99 Shangda Road, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Runlong Li, Yu Fan, Zhiheng Ma, Dan Zhang, Yiming Liu & Jiaqiang Xu

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  1. Runlong Li
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  2. Yu Fan
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  3. Zhiheng Ma
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  4. Dan Zhang
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  5. Yiming Liu
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Correspondence to Jiaqiang Xu.

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Highlights

• A stable colloidal solution containing ultrathin MXene nanosheets was obtained by a facile liquid phase etching method; it is beneficial for making the nanodevices.

• Different from the detection principle of resistance type humidity sensor at high temperature, we select QCM with ng sensing ability as a transducer to detect sensitively the mass change of water molecules adsorbed by MXene on QCM surface at room temperature.

• Humidity detection results indicated that the sensor had excellent sensitivity of 12.8 Hz/% RH, 6 s/2 s (@90%) rapid response/recovery time, maximum humidity hysteresis of 1.16% RH, excellent short-term repeatability, long-term stability, and cross-selectivity.

• DFT simulation reveals that F functional groups on the surface of MXene play an important role in enhancing water molecule adsorption, which was verified by relevant experiments.

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Li, R., Fan, Y., Ma, Z. et al. Controllable preparation of ultrathin MXene nanosheets and their excellent QCM humidity sensing properties enhanced by fluoride doping. Microchim Acta 188, 81 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-021-04723-2

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