# Structure and Dynamics of Water Confined in Transition Metal Carbide MXenes: Implications for Electrochemical Applications

## TL;DR

This paper studies how water behaves in different MXene materials, which are useful for energy storage and water purification.

## Contribution

The study reveals how MXene composition affects water dynamics, providing insights for material design in electrochemical applications.

## Key findings

- Mo-containing MXenes show similar vibrational dynamics and diffusion coefficients.
- Ti2CTx has faster water diffusion and more hydroxyl groups compared to other MXenes.
- Findings help guide MXene selection for energy storage and water purification.

## Abstract

Two-dimensional transition
metal carbides and nitrides
(MXenes)
are an important family of electrochemically active 2D materials.
MXenes combine high conductivity with hydrophilicity, making them
attractive materials for many applications, including electrochemical
energy storage, sensing, desalination, and others. In order to better
understand the role of structure on MXene properties, here, we investigated
the vibrational properties and diffusion of water in MXenes with differing
layer thicknesses and transition metal compositions using inelastic,
quasi-elastic, and small-angle neutron scattering. We found that all
of the Mo-containing MXenes studied here exhibited comparable vibrational
dynamics and diffusion coefficients to each other and to previously
studied Ti3C2T
x
.
However, Ti2CT
x
was distinguished
by its faster diffusion and more hydroxyl groups compared to the other
MXenes studied. These results can help guide the selection of appropriate
MXenes for energy storage and electrochemical water purification applications.