Structural and optical characterization of titanium–carbide and polymethyl methacrylate based nanocomposite

The rich chemistries and unique morphologies of titanium carbide MXenes, made them strong candidates for many applications like sensors and electronic device materials. During the synthesis procedure, chemical etching, oxidation occurs and residual materials, like titanium-dioxide nanocrystals and nanosheets are often present in resulting material. As titanium-carbide MXenes are suggested to be used as additive in organic polymer matrices for production of nanocomposites, it is essential to consider the presence of the oxides and other residuals together with MXene flakes in synthesis results, and consequently in produced nanocomposite. In this study we present structural and optical characterization of such polymer nanocomposite titanium carbide/PMMA (Polymethyl methacrylate) consisting of Ti _3 C _2 , TiC _2 MXenes and TiC, and TiO _2 residues of synthesis in PMMA matrix, as a multicomponent nanocomposite. Using XRD, infra-red and Raman spectroscopy, followed by comparative study on the vibrational properties using density functional theory calculations, we characterize this nanocomposite. Further, the SEM measurements are performed, demonstrating the produced titanium-carbide-based flakes in nanocomposite are well defined and separated to nanosized grains, allowing us to use Maxwell–Garnet model to analyse infrared spectrum. This enables us to determine the presence of the optical modification of polymer matrices corresponding to a volume fraction of 0.25.