Production of V2C MXene using a repetitive pattern of V2AlC MAX phase through microwave heating of Al-V2O5-C system

Highlights: • A microwave fast heating was employed to produce repetitive pattern of V₂AlC MAX phase. • MAX phase composite was produced through V₂O₅-Al-C system. • V₂C MXene was produced by aggressive leaching process. The present work focuses on the preparation of V₂C MXene from Al-V₂O₅-C mixture heated in a microwave and etched under HF-based process. In the first stage of process, microwave heating caused the formation of an uncommon periodic pattern of V₂AlC-Al₂O₃ MAX phase. In the second stage of process the aggressive leaching (temperature of 80 °C for 96 h) was performed in HF to remove the interlayer aluminum and Al₂O₃ particles as impurities. The leaching was not completed at room temperature even after 24 h. XRD and FESEM analyses confirmed the successful formation of V₂C MXene and its distorted layer, respectively. HRTEM, XPS and Raman analyses also confirmed a perfect structure of V₂C MXene. It seems that the sintering of compacted Al-V₂O₅-C mixture in microwave and subsequently aggressive leaching of these samples encourage the formation of periodic pattern of MAX phase together with few-layer V₂C MXene. Finally, this work led to the successful preparation of MXene using cheap starting materials and the influence of microwave heating on the reduction of V₂O₅ by Al which could be a driving force for the formation of periodic pattern in V₂AlC.