Photothermal effects control ultrafast charge transport in titanium carbide MXenes
Titanium carbide MXene (Ti₃C₂Tₓ) is an emerging metallic material with promise for (opto)electronics and thermal management. Yet how photoexcitation-particularly via photogenerated thermal energy-modifies its charge carrier dynamics remains poorly understood. By combining time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy and transient reflectance measurements, we reveal a long-lived, photo-induced suppression of conductivity, which we attribute to efficient lattice heating and slow heat dissipation in Ti₃C₂T<sub>x</sub>. A systematic variation of pump photon energy reveals that this 'negative' photoconductivity can equivalently be induced by lattice temperature increases, indicating a thermal origin. Repetition-rate-dependent transient reflectance measurements further show residual heat persisting over 100 ns, substantially longer than in conventional metals. Our work presents a unified understanding of photothermal effects in Ti₃C₂Tₓ and their influence on non-equilibrium charge transport, underscoring its potential for photothermal electronics and light-to-thermal energy storage applications.
Authors
- Danzhen Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0005-2674)
- Jaco J. Geuchies (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0758-9140)
- Stefano Ippolito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6906-3961)
- Hugh Ramsden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0934-2088)
- Dongqi Li
- Guanzhao Wen
- Xinliang Feng
- Wenhao Zheng
- Teng Zhang
- Yury Gogotsi
- Klaas-Jan Tielrooij
- Minghao Yu
- Hai I. Wang
- Max van Hemert
Institutions
- Leiden University (NL)
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University of Applied Sciences Leiden (NL)
- Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics (DE)
- Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ES)
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (DE)
- Nanomaterials Research (United States) (US)
- Aerospace Information Research Institute (CN)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Drexel University (US)
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
- Eindhoven University of Technology (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-01-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68831-4
- Primary Topic
- MXene and MAX Phase Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
- Centres de Recerca de Catalunya
- Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia
- European Commission
- Universiteit Utrecht
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Generalitat de Catalunya
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
- China Scholarship Council
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación