High conductivity and stability of polystyrene/MXene composites with orientation-3D network binary structure

Recently, two-dimensional transition metal carbide/nitride (MXene) and its composites with polymers have attracted great interest from researchers due to their potential applications in flexible electronics, electromagnetic shielding, catalysis, and energy storage. However, the easy oxidation of MXene and the low efficiency of traditional composites preparation methods have brought great challenges to the practical application of polymer/MXene composites. Here, we prepared polystyrene/Mxene (PS/MXene) composites with a 3D conductive network structure through particle construction strategy. Because of the compact and ordered structure, the conductivity of the material reached 3846.15 S/m when the filler content was only 1.81 vol%, and it can retain 53.4% of the initial value after 180 days. Furthermore, based on the 3D network, we orientated the MXene nanosheets in the matrix to form the MXene orientated 3D network binary structure. This unique structure design further increased the utilization rate of MXene and made the material conductivity reach to 4471.13 S/m, with the percolation threshold as low as 0.175 vol%. We believe that this research can provide a feasible way for the practical application of MXene composite materials.