Ultrafast Flash Energy Conductance at MXene-Surfactant Interface and Its Molecular Origins

With the developments of energy science, biomedical therapy, and electronic technology, interfacial thermal transport has become a key issue for many applications. Furthermore, with the growing importance of thermal utilization of new 2D material MXene, capturing the interfacial thermal conduction of MXene-soft material in solution is an urgent task. In this work, transient absorption dynamics is employed to investigate MXene (Ti₃C₂T_x)-surfactant interfacial energy conductance in water solution. The sodium dodecyl sulfate molecules could not directly interact with Ti₃C₂T_x surface, and thus failed to inhibit the interfacial heat transfer of Ti₃C₂T_x. To the opposite, attributed to strong coulomb interaction, cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) molecules could form bilayers on Ti₃C₂T_x to isolate the energy dissipation from Ti₃C₂T_x to water and thus alter the heat dissipation rates of Ti₃C₂T_x. The interfacial energy conductance G ≈81 MW m⁻² K⁻¹ between CTAB and Ti₃C₂T_x is quantitatively obtained. Molecular dynamics simulation also presented the flash heating could disrupt the bilayer structures, showing that the finding contributed to the future engineering design for MXene thermal applications through tuning the attaching layer at MXene interface.