Recently, improving the applicability of transition-metal carbon/nitride (MXene) shielding devices through integration with nanomaterials and polymers has gradually attracted the attention of researchers. Although the addition of an insulation enhancement phase improves the mechanical properties of MXene shielding devices, it is still a challenge to avoid extensive damage to the conductive network and the reduction of the shielding efficiency (SE). Herein, an effective approach is demonstrated to construct an ultralight, conductive Ti3C2Tx MXene/aramid nanofiber (ANF) anisotropic aerogel. Thanks to the strong interfacial interaction between the MXene nanosheets and ANFs, abundant rigid skeleton and “cell wall” structures were constructed in the anisotropic aerogel. The aerogel was not only endowed with excellent compressibility and superelasticity, but also built a macroscopic conductive network, thus increasing the impedance mismatch interface, and ensuring the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance of the device. At an ultra-low Ti3C2Tx content (0.58 vol%), the conductivity of the composite aerogel reached a maximum of 854.9 S m−1 and the EMI SE reached 65.5 dB, which is the best efficiency value of an aerogel based on ANFs so far. In addition, the anisotropic Ti3C2Tx/ANF aerogel had consistent thermal stability and flame retardant properties. The nanosheet edge protection based on ANFs delayed the oxidation of MXene, and the EMI SE still reached 59.1 dB after 2 h of exposure in air at 250 °C. Therefore, the ultralight, superelastic, and thermally stable Ti3C2Tx/ANF anisotropic aerogel prepared in this work showed excellent application prospects in various extreme conditions.
26 February 2018 in Angewandte Chemie International Edition
This study proposes a novel and facile method to synthesize high-quality NH2-functionalized and carboxyl-functionalized graphene oxide (PPD–CFGO)/polyimide (PI) composite films with high dielectric constant (ε), low dielectric loss, high-temperature resistance and outstanding mechanical properties by in situ polymerization. In addition to the partial carboxyl groups located at the edges, the ample hydroxyl and epoxy groups bonded on the basal plane of graphene sheets were exploited to covalently bond to the amines. GO was modified by oxalic acid to obtain carboxyl-functionalized GO (CFGO) before amidation. NH2-functionalized CFGO (PPD–CFGO), dispersing well in dimethylacetamide (DMAc), was the initial platform for polymer grafting to improve the CFGO dispersion in the polymer matrix. Partially reduced graphene nanosheets are formed during the imidization process. The PPD–CFGO/PI composite films exhibit high tensile strength (up to 848 MPa) and Young's modulus (18.5 GPa). The thermogravimetric analysis results indicate that the PPD–CFGO/PI composites have good thermal stability below 500 °C. The dielectric constant increases up to 36.9 with an increasing amount of PPD–CFGO, higher than that of the pure PI polymer by a factor of 12.5, while the dielectric loss is only 0.0075 and the breakdown strength still remains at a high level (132.5 ± 9.3 MV m−1).