Structural and morphological analysis for cerium (Ce+3) doped intercalated 2D MXene

New group of 2-dimensional materials such as MXene, Ti3C2, containing transition metals creating a hexagonal structure with the atoms of carbon that arouse growing attention these days, the production of doped MXene sheets is reported in this work. For numerous materials, rare earth metals were used primarily as dopants to improve their properties for decades. The study reports on cerium (Ce+3) doping synthesis in the MXene (Ti3C2) sheets and its surface, optical and structural observation. MXene sheets of Ce-Ti3C2 have been fabricated by using easy low-cost sol gel technique. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) was used for study of nanosheet phase and crystallinity. Crystallite sizes have been calculated by the formula of Debye-Scherer. The sample surface morphology was analyzed with the help of Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Analysis of the UV-Vis curve to find the bandgap reduction in nanosheet. FTIR has been used to investigate the MXene layer molecular bonding of surface. Cerium (Ce+3) atoms were successfully doped into the sheets, slightly tuned bandgap, the parameters of the lattices indicate minor change in length of c- LP, verifying modification of the Ti+4 atoms with Ce+3 atoms.