Preparation and characterization of polymer‐Ti 3 C 2 T x (MXene) composite nanofibers produced via electrospinning

ABSTRACT MXene, a recently‐discovered family of two‐dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides and/or nitrides, have attracted much interest because of their unique electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. In this study, poly(acrylic acid), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and alginate/PEO were electrospun with delaminated Ti 3 C 2 (MXene) flakes. The effect of small additions of delaminated Ti 3 C 2 (1% w/w) on the structure and properties of the nanofibers were investigated and compared with those of the neat polymer nanofibers using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Ti 3 C 2 had an effect on the solution properties of the polymer and a greater effect on the average fiber diameter. The Ti 3 C 2 T x /PEO solution exhibited the largest change in viscosity and conductivity with an 11% and 73.6% increase over the base polymer, respectively. X‐ray diffractograms demonstrated a high degree of crystallization for Ti 3 C 2 /PEO and a slight decrease in crystallinity for Ti 3 C 2 /PVA. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134 , 45295.