Ultra-compact MXene fibers by continuous and controllable synergy of interfacial interactions and thermal drawing-induced stresses.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35931719.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-32361-6 and PMC identifier 9356020.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Recent advances in MXene (Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub>x</sub>) fibers, prepared from electrically conductive and mechanically strong MXene nanosheets, address the increasing demand of emerging yet promising electrode materials for the development of textile-based devices and beyond. However, to reveal the full potential of MXene fibers, reaching a balance between electrical conductivity and mechanical property is still the fundamental challenge, mainly due to the difficulties to further compact the loose MXene nanosheets. In this work, we demonstrate a continuous and controllable route to fabricate ultra-compact MXene fibers with an in-situ generated protective layer via the synergy of interfacial interactions and thermal drawing-induced stresses. The resulting ultra-compact MXene fibers with high orientation and low porosity exhibit not only excellent tensile strength and ultra-high toughness, but also high electrical conductivity. Then, we construct meter-scale MXene textiles using these ultra-compact fibers to achieve high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding and personal thermal management, accompanied by the high mechanical durability and stability even after multiple washing cycles. The demonstrated generic strategy can be applied to a broad range of nanostructured materials to construct functional fibers for large-scale applications in both space and daily lives.