Electromagnetic wave absorption properties in the centimetre-band of Ti₃C₂T_x MXenes with diverse etching time

In this work, Ti₃C₂T_x MXenes were fabricated by using HF solution for diverse etching time and then investigated as electromagnetic (EM) wave absorbing materials in the centimetre-band (2–18 GHz). Besides, the impact of etching time on the structure, morphology, surface termination and dielectric properties was explored. With growing etching time, the crystal structure and surface morphology of Ti₃C₂T_x MXenes were gradually destroyed and more C was exposed. Among the etching samples, Ti₃C₂T_x-24 exhibited optimal RL_min of − 42.5 dB and broad tunable absorption bandwidth of 13.8 GHz. The extraordinary absorption could be attributed to multiple reflections and scatterings and interfacial polarizations. More importantly, comprehensive comparisons were made among two-dimensional Ti₃C₂T_x MXenes, typical two-dimensional carbon-related and MoS₂ materials. The thorough explorations supplement and improve the study of dielectric properties and EM wave absorption performance of Ti₃C₂T_x MXenes in centimetre-band, thus broadband Ti₃C₂T_x based hybrids absorbers can be constructed reasonably and effectively.