Structurally colored mxene layer-by-layer heterostructures

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for producing structural color in layer-by-layer assemblies of Ti3C2Tz MXene nanosheets and polyelectrolyte heterostructures with controlled block thicknesses. In an aspect, the block thickness and spatial placement of MXene is controlled by the assembly's salt concentration and number of layer pairs. In a further aspect, to achieve controllable thicknesses in MXene blocks a processing method called layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly is employed. LbL assembly uses electrostatic interactions to alternately deposited layers of desired materials. In a still further aspect, layers of desired thicknesses can be built up by sequential deposition, allowing the creation of MXene blocks of specific thicknesses in order to attain structural color.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.