Tuning Anisotropic Optical Properties of Inorganic and Hybrid Organic-Inorganic MXenes via Topochemical Surface Modification.

Kim, Young-Hwan; Fang, Hui; Noh, Hanaul; Md Shawon, Abu Rashed; Han, Sanguk; Intriago, Daniel; Zhang, Teng; Cavanagh, Ashley E et al. · Nano Lett · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Surface groups are central to the properties of MXenes, yet their role in optical anisotropy remains largely unexplored. Here, we use a topochemical route to synthesize single crystals of stacked Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>Cl<sub>2</sub> and hybrid organic-inorganic MXenes (<i>h</i>-MXenes) with lateral sizes of 38-75 μm, rotational registry, and tunable interlayer spacing. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy shows that topochemical substitution generates mixed amido, imido, and hydride surface motifs, which modify the electronic structure of the Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub> inorganic core. Imaging spectroscopic ellipsometry with micron-scale spatial resolution enables reconstruction of the complex dielectric tensor of individual multilayer crystals. Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>Cl<sub>2</sub> exhibits a type-II hyperbolicity above 930 nm, whereas <i>h</i>-MXenes do not display hyperbolicity within the measured 300-1700 nm window, instead showing reduced in-plane conductivity, suppressed out-of-plane light absorption, and a chain-length-dependent blue shift of a near-infrared absorption feature. These results demonstrate topochemical surface modification as a direct handle for engineering MXenes as surface-programmable optical media.