Elif Okay1,Omer Caylan1,2,Eren Atli1,Begum Incecik1,3,Goknur Cambaz Buke1
TOBB University of Economics and Technology1,Bilkent University2,Roketsan Missiles Industries Inc.3
Elif Okay1,Omer Caylan1,2,Eren Atli1,Begum Incecik1,3,Goknur Cambaz Buke1
TOBB University of Economics and Technology1,Bilkent University2,Roketsan Missiles Industries Inc.3
MXenes are the novel two-dimensional metal carbides or nitrides derived from their MAX phases. Recently discovered Mxenes, attracted the attention of many researchers and widely studied for the applications of energy storage, catalysis, gas sensing, wastewater treatment etc. More than twenty Mxenes have been successfully synthesized and Mo<sub>2</sub>CT<sub>x</sub> holds a great potential due to its theoretically predicted electrochemical, thermoelectric properties and chemical stability. Nonetheless, the long synthesis duration which can amount up to several days due to the strong bonding between the Mo-Ga atoms is challenging. In order to overcome this problem, scientist have used hydrothermal etching and lowered the duration drastically. Additionally, due to the hazardous nature of hydrofluoric acid, there have been studies on using HCl as etchant in hydrothermal conditions to increase the chemical potential between gallium and chloride ions which have proven successful. In this study, the hydrothermal etching of Mo<sub>2</sub>Ga<sub>2</sub>C to produce Mo<sub>2</sub>CT<sub>x</sub> using different fluoride salts with hydrochloric acid and only using hydrochloric acid is investigated and effects of different salts (LiF, BaF<sub>2</sub>, MgF<sub>2</sub> and MnF<sub>4</sub>) and no salt is discussed. The fluoride salts are mixed with hydrochloric acid to obtain in-situ hydrofluoric acid, and two different reaction temperatures for the hydrothermal etching process is studied (140 °C and 160 °C) for 24 hours (5-7 days for HCl). The synthesized Mxenes are characterized by; SEM and EDS for investigating morphology and chemical composition, and XRD for structural analysis. After studying the process parameters, such as temperature and etchant type on the synthesis of Mo<sub>2</sub>CT<sub>x </sub>powders, Mo<sub>2</sub>CT<sub>x</sub> powders are hand-mixed with epoxy resin with differing weight percentages to produce epoxy/Mo<sub>2</sub>CT<sub>x</sub> composites. Then these samples’ electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness performance is measured. The EMI Shielding properties of Mo<sub>2</sub>C Mxene composite is reported for the first time in this study. EMI Shielding properties of the epoxy/Mxene composites are reported in accordance with "ASTM D4935 Standard Test Method for Measuring the Electromagnetic Shielding Effectiveness of Planar Materials" using a vector network analyzer in the frequency range of 1.5–10 GHz. This study is supported by Air Force Office of Scientific Research grant number FA9550-19-1-7048.