Triphasic synthesis of MXenes with uniform and controlled halogen terminations

Dongqi Li; Wenhao Zheng; Mahdi Ghorbani-Asl; Juliane Scheiter; Kamil Sobczak; Silvan Kretschmer; Josef Polčák; Pranjali Hirasing Jadhao; Paweł P. Michałowski; Ruoling Yu; Jiaxu Zhang; Jinxin Liu; Jingwei Du; Quanquan Guo; Ehrenfried Zschech; Tomáš Šikola; Mischa Bonn; Nicolás Pérez; Kornelius Nielsch; Arkady V. Krasheninnikov; Hai I. Wang; Minghao Yu; Xinliang Feng

doi:10.1038/s44160-025-00970-w

Triphasic synthesis of MXenes with uniform and controlled halogen terminations

Dongqi Li
, Wenhao Zheng
, Mahdi Ghorbani-Asl
, Juliane Scheiter
, Kamil Sobczak
, Silvan Kretschmer
, Josef Polčák
, Pranjali Hirasing Jadhao
, Paweł P. Michałowski
, Ruoling Yu
, Jiaxu Zhang
, Jinxin Liu
, Jingwei Du
, Quanquan Guo
, Ehrenfried Zschech
, Tomáš Šikola
, Mischa Bonn
, Nicolás Pérez
, Kornelius Nielsch
, Arkady V. Krasheninnikov

Hai I. Wang^*, Minghao Yu^*, Xinliang Feng^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Surface terminations critically govern the properties of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and/or nitrides (MXenes), yet a universal strategy to obtain MXenes with uniform and controllable terminations remains elusive. Here we introduce a ‘gas–liquid–solid’ triphasic etching strategy that employs iodine vapour, halide molten salts and MAX phases to produce MXenes with pure and precisely tunable halogen terminations (Cl, Br, I or their combinations). In this process, halide molten salts dissolve iodine via interhalogen anion formation while efficiently transporting etching by-products. The resulting MXenes retain excellent structural integrity, yielding uniformly ordered surfaces. As a representative example, Ti₃C₂Cl₂ shows a 160-fold enhancement in macroscopic conductivity and a 13-fold enhancement in terahertz conductivity relative to conventional Cl/O-terminated Ti₃C₂, attributed to minimized electron trapping and scattering. Beyond single-halogen terminations, the gas–liquid–solid approach enables dual- and triple-halogen termination control, providing a general platform for tailoring MXene surface chemistry towards advanced (opto)electronic applications.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature Synthesis
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-025-00970-w
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 6 Jan 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026.

Funding

X.F. and M.Y. acknowledge the financial support from European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (GREENCAP 101091572), European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (2D-PRINTABLE 101135196, LEAF 101186701), M-ERA.NET and Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst (HYSUCAP 100478697) and German Research Foundation (DFG) within the Cluster of Excellence, CRC 1415 (grant no. 417590517) and TRR404 (grant no. DFG 528378584). D.L. acknowledges the support from China Scholarships Council (CSC). P.P.M. acknowledges the support by the National Centre for Research and Development, project number LIDER/8/0055/L-12/20/NCBR/2021. T.Š. acknowledges CzechNanoLab project LM2023051 funded by MEYS CR, TAČR EPSILON project (number TH71020004), GAČR project (number 23-07617 S) for the financial support of experiments at CEITEC Nano Research Infrastructure. We acknowledge the use of the facilities in the Dresden Center for Nanoanalysis (DCN) at Technische Universität Dresden, the GWK support for providing computing time through the Center for Information Services and High-Performance Computing (ZIH) at TU Dresden, and beam time allocation at beamline P65 at the PETRA III synchrotron (DESY, Hamburg, Germany) and beamline BL04 at ALBA synchrotron (Barcelona, Spain). Special thanks to G. Wen (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research) and S. Voborný (CEITEC) for their suggestions and help.

Funders	Funder number
Central European Institute of Technology
China Scholarship Council
Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy
Grantová Agentura České Republiky	23-07617 S
Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst	HYSUCAP 100478697
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft	TRR404, 417590517, DFG 528378584
European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme	LEAF 101186701, 2D-PRINTABLE 101135196
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	GREENCAP 101091572
Technology Agency of the Czech Republic	TH71020004
Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju	LM2023051, LIDER/8/0055/L-12/20/NCBR/2021

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Li, D., Zheng, W., Ghorbani-Asl, M., Scheiter, J., Sobczak, K., Kretschmer, S., Polčák, J., Jadhao, P. H., Michałowski, P. P., Yu, R., Zhang, J., Liu, J., Du, J., Guo, Q., Zschech, E., Šikola, T., Bonn, M., Pérez, N., Nielsch, K., ... Feng, X. (2026). Triphasic synthesis of MXenes with uniform and controlled halogen terminations. Nature Synthesis. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-025-00970-w

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title = "Triphasic synthesis of MXenes with uniform and controlled halogen terminations",

abstract = "Surface terminations critically govern the properties of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and/or nitrides (MXenes), yet a universal strategy to obtain MXenes with uniform and controllable terminations remains elusive. Here we introduce a {\textquoteleft}gas–liquid–solid{\textquoteright} triphasic etching strategy that employs iodine vapour, halide molten salts and MAX phases to produce MXenes with pure and precisely tunable halogen terminations (Cl, Br, I or their combinations). In this process, halide molten salts dissolve iodine via interhalogen anion formation while efficiently transporting etching by-products. The resulting MXenes retain excellent structural integrity, yielding uniformly ordered surfaces. As a representative example, Ti3C2Cl2 shows a 160-fold enhancement in macroscopic conductivity and a 13-fold enhancement in terahertz conductivity relative to conventional Cl/O-terminated Ti3C2, attributed to minimized electron trapping and scattering. Beyond single-halogen terminations, the gas–liquid–solid approach enables dual- and triple-halogen termination control, providing a general platform for tailoring MXene surface chemistry towards advanced (opto)electronic applications.",

author = "Dongqi Li and Wenhao Zheng and Mahdi Ghorbani-Asl and Juliane Scheiter and Kamil Sobczak and Silvan Kretschmer and Josef Pol{\v c}{\'a}k and Jadhao, \{Pranjali Hirasing\} and Micha{\l}owski, \{Pawe{\l} P.\} and Ruoling Yu and Jiaxu Zhang and Jinxin Liu and Jingwei Du and Quanquan Guo and Ehrenfried Zschech and Tom{\'a}{\v s} {\v S}ikola and Mischa Bonn and Nicol{\'a}s P{\'e}rez and Kornelius Nielsch and Krasheninnikov, \{Arkady V.\} and Wang, \{Hai I.\} and Minghao Yu and Xinliang Feng",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2026.",

year = "2026",

month = jan,

day = "6",

doi = "10.1038/s44160-025-00970-w",

language = "English",

journal = "Nature Synthesis",

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Li, D, Zheng, W, Ghorbani-Asl, M, Scheiter, J, Sobczak, K, Kretschmer, S, Polčák, J, Jadhao, PH, Michałowski, PP, Yu, R, Zhang, J, Liu, J, Du, J, Guo, Q, Zschech, E, Šikola, T, Bonn, M, Pérez, N, Nielsch, K, Krasheninnikov, AV, Wang, HI, Yu, M & Feng, X 2026, 'Triphasic synthesis of MXenes with uniform and controlled halogen terminations', Nature Synthesis. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-025-00970-w

TY - JOUR

T1 - Triphasic synthesis of MXenes with uniform and controlled halogen terminations

AU - Li, Dongqi

AU - Zheng, Wenhao

AU - Ghorbani-Asl, Mahdi

AU - Scheiter, Juliane

AU - Sobczak, Kamil

AU - Kretschmer, Silvan

AU - Polčák, Josef

AU - Jadhao, Pranjali Hirasing

AU - Michałowski, Paweł P.

AU - Yu, Ruoling

AU - Zhang, Jiaxu

AU - Liu, Jinxin

AU - Du, Jingwei

AU - Guo, Quanquan

AU - Zschech, Ehrenfried

AU - Šikola, Tomáš

AU - Bonn, Mischa

AU - Pérez, Nicolás

AU - Nielsch, Kornelius

AU - Krasheninnikov, Arkady V.

AU - Wang, Hai I.

AU - Yu, Minghao

AU - Feng, Xinliang

PY - 2026/1/6

Y1 - 2026/1/6

N2 - Surface terminations critically govern the properties of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and/or nitrides (MXenes), yet a universal strategy to obtain MXenes with uniform and controllable terminations remains elusive. Here we introduce a ‘gas–liquid–solid’ triphasic etching strategy that employs iodine vapour, halide molten salts and MAX phases to produce MXenes with pure and precisely tunable halogen terminations (Cl, Br, I or their combinations). In this process, halide molten salts dissolve iodine via interhalogen anion formation while efficiently transporting etching by-products. The resulting MXenes retain excellent structural integrity, yielding uniformly ordered surfaces. As a representative example, Ti3C2Cl2 shows a 160-fold enhancement in macroscopic conductivity and a 13-fold enhancement in terahertz conductivity relative to conventional Cl/O-terminated Ti3C2, attributed to minimized electron trapping and scattering. Beyond single-halogen terminations, the gas–liquid–solid approach enables dual- and triple-halogen termination control, providing a general platform for tailoring MXene surface chemistry towards advanced (opto)electronic applications.

AB - Surface terminations critically govern the properties of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and/or nitrides (MXenes), yet a universal strategy to obtain MXenes with uniform and controllable terminations remains elusive. Here we introduce a ‘gas–liquid–solid’ triphasic etching strategy that employs iodine vapour, halide molten salts and MAX phases to produce MXenes with pure and precisely tunable halogen terminations (Cl, Br, I or their combinations). In this process, halide molten salts dissolve iodine via interhalogen anion formation while efficiently transporting etching by-products. The resulting MXenes retain excellent structural integrity, yielding uniformly ordered surfaces. As a representative example, Ti3C2Cl2 shows a 160-fold enhancement in macroscopic conductivity and a 13-fold enhancement in terahertz conductivity relative to conventional Cl/O-terminated Ti3C2, attributed to minimized electron trapping and scattering. Beyond single-halogen terminations, the gas–liquid–solid approach enables dual- and triple-halogen termination control, providing a general platform for tailoring MXene surface chemistry towards advanced (opto)electronic applications.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105026828591

U2 - 10.1038/s44160-025-00970-w

DO - 10.1038/s44160-025-00970-w

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105026828591

SN - 2731-0582

JO - Nature Synthesis

JF - Nature Synthesis

ER -

Triphasic synthesis of MXenes with uniform and controlled halogen terminations

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

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