Laser triggered exothermic chemical reaction in Au nanoparticle@ Ti3C2 MXene membrane: A route toward efficient light to high-temperature pulse conversion

Laser induced high-temperature pulse (HTP) generation, which can rapidly release heat under irradiance of laser pulse, is still limited due to the high laser energy of the typical method based on photothermal effect. The major obstacle of this physical process is that the output heat energy comes only from the incident laser energy. Here, a physical/chemical coupled method to efficient HTP generation is demonstrated in Ti3C2TX MXene based membranes. Due to its high light absorption and perfect internal light-to-heat conversion efficiency, the Ti3C2TX MXene could generate a drastic temperature rise by the physical photothermal effect, which could trigger further exothermic oxidation of the metastable Ti3C2TX MXene. This physical/chemical coupled HTP generation could be greatly improved by introducing plasmonic Au nanoparticles into the Ti3C2TX MXene membrane (Au NP@MXene) to enhance the light absorption, resulting in generation of HTP with high peak temperature under irradiation of pulsed laser with moderate intensity. As a proof-of concept application, the Au NP@MXene is used as an HTP generator to ignite the combustion of 2,4,6,8,10,12-(hexanitrohexaaza)cyclododecane (CL-20). Compared with the state-of-the-art HTP generator, such as graphene oxide membrane, the ignition performance of CL-20 can be greatly enhanced by Au NP@MXene in terms of shortened ignition time.

Automated summary

Introducing plasmonic Au nanoparticles into Ti3C2TX MXene membranes can improve the efficiency of high-temperature pulse generation and achieve high peak temperatures under moderate laser irradiation; the physical/chemical coupled method of high-temperature pulse generation can be applied to ignite the combustion of chemical materials.