Dynamic Response Study of Piezoresistive Ti(3)C(2)-MXene Sensor for Structural Impacts

MXenes are a new family of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials. They are inorganic compounds of metal carbides/nitrides/carbonitrides. Titanium carbide MXene (Ti [Formula: see text] C [Formula: see text]-MXene) was the first 2D nanomaterial reported in the MXene family in 2011. Owing to the good physical properties of Ti [Formula: see text] C [Formula: see text]-MXenes (e.g., conductivity, hydrophilicity, film-forming ability, elasticity) various applications in wearable sensors, energy harvesters, supercapacitors, electronic devices, etc., have been demonstrated. This paper presents the development of a piezoresistive Ti [Formula: see text] C [Formula: see text]-MXene sensor followed by experimental investigations of its dynamic response behavior when subjected to structural impacts. For the experimental investigations, an inclined ball impact test setup is constructed. Stainless steel balls of different masses and radii are used to apply repeatable impacts on a vertical cantilever plate. The Ti [Formula: see text] C [Formula: see text]-MXene sensor is attached to this cantilever plate along with a commercial piezoceramic sensor, and their responses for the structural impacts are compared. It is observed from the experiments that the average response times of the Ti [Formula: see text] C [Formula: see text]-MXene sensor and piezoceramic sensor are [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] s and [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] s, respectively. The fast response time of the Ti [Formula: see text] C [Formula: see text]-MXene sensor makes it a promising candidate for monitoring structural impacts.