SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF VANADIUM CARBIDE FOR SERS SENSORS

Abstract

MXenes as two-dimensional inorganic materials with tailorable surface chemistry have been attracting huge attention to the scientific community because of the variety in their functional properties, such as high electrical and thermal conductivity, large surface area, biocompatibility, etc. [1–4]. In this work, V2CTx was obtained by etching of V2AlC precursor by HF and mixture of HF and HCl too. XRD, Raman and SEM analyses were performed to evaluate the structure and morphology of the synthesized powder, which indicated micron-sized and almost phase-pure nature of the material. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a rapid, highly sensitive, non-destructive technique with high signal amplification possibilities. MXenes are good candidates for SERS substrates due to their highly metallic characteristics such as good and unique electronic and optical properties. Also, they are flexible and hydrophilic and which makes them suitable for tagging with Raman reporters [5]. However, since V2CTx hasn't been much in focus for this application, it motivated us to develop such a sensor.