Fire/heat-resistant, anti-corrosion and folding Ti2C3Tx MXene/single-walled carbon nanotube films for extreme-environmental EMI shielding and solar-thermal conversion applications

Abstract

Polymer-based nacre-like conductive films used in highly efficient electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and solar-thermal conversion are often limited by poor fire/heat resistance and unsatisfactory electrical conductivity, which would tremendously impede their applications in some extreme environments. As one of the solutions, high aspect ratio one-dimensional (1D) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with intrinsic electrical conductivity and fire/heat resistance were selected as a matrix to prepare a high-performance lamellar film with two-dimensional (2D) Ti2C3T_x MXene by vacuum-assisted filtration in this work. The lamellar structure with highly oriented MXene nanosheets and interconnecting conductive SWNT networks not only ensures a high electrical conductivity (1851.9 S cm⁻¹) of the composite film, but also provides the space for multiple internal reflection of EM waves, thus resulting in a super-high EMI shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) of 78.9 dB and a high specific shielding effectiveness (SSE/t) of 15263.1 dB cm² g⁻¹. Further increasing the film thickness to 296 μm can improve the EMI SE to 108.1 dB. More significantly, the MXene/CNT film can maintain a long-term stable EMI shielding performance and structural integrity in various extreme environments including fire, high/low-temperature (−196 to 500 °C), folding deformation, ultrasound, and acid-based corrosion. Besides, the lamellar structure with high interfacial adhesion endows the MXene/CNT film with high tensile strength and toughness, and remarkable flexibility. Simultaneously, the MXene/CNT film shows an outstanding solar-thermal energy conversion ability. Based on these glorious performances, the MXene/CNT film exhibits a huge potential in practical applications to meet various extreme environments.