MXenes exhibit visible-range surface plasmon polaritons, detectable with photoemission electron microscopy.

Phonon dynamics and transport determine how heat is utilized and dissipated in materials. In 2D systems for optoelectronics and thermoelectrics, the impact of nanoscale material structure on phonon pr...

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The unique properties and processability of conducting and semiconducting organic materials have fascinated scientists since their discovery. Of this broad class of materials, conductive coordination ...

A nanoscale, wide-field, imaging method reveals the structure of in-plane antiferroelectric domains.

MXenes, a class of layered two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides, exhibit excellent optoelectronic properties and show promise for fields ranging from photonics and communications to energy storage and catalysis. Some members of the MXene family are metallic and exhibit large in-plane conductivity, making them possibly suited for 2D plasmonics. The highly variable chemical structure of MXenes offers a broad chemical space to tune material properties for plasmonic applications, including plasmon-enhanced catalysis, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and electromagnetic shielding. However, this synthetic complexity has also presented several roadblocks in the process of moving MXene plasmonics into applications. For example, in the prototypical MXene Ti3C2Tx, there remains disagreement over the bulk plasmon energy and the assignment of a prominent resonance around 1.7 eV. We discuss fundamental models and theories of plasmon physics and apply these models to MXenes in order to clarify some of these problems. We outline the potential for hyperbolic plasmons in MXenes and propose new avenues for MXene photonics research.