MXene, a new class of two-dimensional nanomaterials, have drawn increasing attention as emerging materials for sensing applications. However, MXene-based surface plasmon resonance sensors remain largely unexplored. In this work, we theoretically show that the sensitivity of the surface plasmon resonance sensor can be significantly enhanced by combining two-dimensional Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene and transition metal dichalcogenides. A high sensitivity of 198 ∘ /RIU (refractive index unit) with a sensitivity enhancement of 41.43% was achieved in aqueous solutions (refractive index ∼1.33) with the employment of monolayer Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene and five layers of WS 2 at a 633 nm excitation wavelength. The integration of Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene with a conventional surface plasmon resonance sensor provides a promising approach for bio- and chemical sensing, thus opening up new opportunities for highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance sensors using two-dimensional nanomaterials.
Keywords: MXene; Ti3C2Tx; sensitivity; surface plasmon resonance; transition metal dichalcogenides.