Elastic properties and tensile strength of 2D Ti3C2Tx MXene monolayers

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal nitrides and carbides (MXenes),represented by Ti3C2Tx, have broad applications inflexible electronics, electromechanical devices, and structural membranes due to their unique physical and chemical properties. Despite the Young's modulus of 2D Ti(3)C(2)T(x)has been theoretically predicted to be 0.502 TPa, which has not been experimentally confirmed so far due to the measurement is extremely restricted. Here, byoptimizing the sample preparation, cutting, and transfer protocols, we per-form the direct in-situ tensile tests on monolayer Ti(3)C(2)T(x)nanosheets using nanomechanical push-to-pull equipment under a scanning electron micro-scope. The effective Young's modulus is 0.484 +/- 0.013 TPa, which is much closer to the theoretical value of 0.502TPa than the previously reported 0.33TPa by the disputed nanoindentation method, and the measured elastic stiff-ness is similar to 948 N/m. Moreover, during the process of tensile loading, the monolayer Ti(3)C(2)T(x)shows an average elastic strain of similar to 3.2% and a tensile strength as large as similar to 15.4 GPa. This work corrects the previous reports by nanoindentation method and demonstrates that the Ti(3)C(2)T(x)indeed keepsimmense potential for broad range of applications.