Tsinghua News, December 12th. In the afternoon of December 10th, the famous American nanomaterials expert, ACS Nano deputy editor, and U.S. Drexel University Distinguished Professor Yury Gogotsi visited Tsinghua University and visited Tsinghua University. An overseas teacher’s lecture, presented a speech entitled "MXenes: Expanding the World of Two-Dimensional Materials."


In the speech, Prof. Gao Guoqi introduced the discovery, synthesis, properties, and applications of the new two-dimensional conductive metal carbide MXene. As early as 2011, Professor Gogotsi group first discovered and obtained MXene materials by selectively etching away the A atom layer in MAX. MAX is a type of metal-based ceramic that consists of a transition metal element (M), a Group III or IV main element (A), and a C or N element (X). After selective etching of the A atom layer in MAX, a multi-layered MXene structure with a similar morphology to expanded graphite can be obtained. The multilayered MXene was stripped by solvent intercalation and sonication to yield a single layer of MXene flakes. The MXene sheet exhibits ultra-high electrical conductivity similar to metal or graphene, and also has a hydrophilic surface and exhibits a clay-like physicochemical property, and thus MXene is also referred to as "hydrophilic graphene" or " Conductive clay." MXene sheets can be self-assembled to form flexible MXene paper or multifunctional nanocomposites. MXene and its composites show excellent performance in electrochemical capacitors such as supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries. Related research shows that MXene also has a very wide range of application prospects in the fields of adsorption, desalination, catalysis, and optoelectronic devices.


After the report, Prof. Gao Guoqi held lively discussions with the teachers and students on the development technology and production costs of MXene, and answered questions from the audience one by one.


Professor Gao Guoqi is currently a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Drexel, USA, and director of the Institute of Nanotechnology. He is an internationally renowned scholar in the field of carbon materials and ceramic materials. His research is very cutting-edge and he has been in this year alone. Four related papers were published in Nature and Science.


This lecture is the 165th lecture of “Tsinghua Overseas Teacher Forum” and is co-sponsored by the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of Tsinghua University and the Department of Chemical Engineering. The lecture was hosted by Prof. Wei Fei, director of the Green Reaction Engineering Laboratory of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tsinghua University. Nearly 110 teachers and students from Tsinghua University and other universities and colleges listened to the lecture.