Large flakes of Al–Ti3C2Tx MXene constructing highly ordered layered MXene/ANF films with integrated multifunctionalities

The simultaneous realization of high mechanical properties and excellent multifunctional performance for nanocomposite films is still a key challenge for practical applications. In this work, a dilute MXene (Al–Ti3C2Tx)/aramid nanofiber (ANF) dispersion (0.013 wt%) containing large-sized, long-term stable Al–Ti3C2Tx nanosheets (5.58 ± 1.68 μm) and branched ANFs was filtered under vacuum pressure to obtain highly ordered layered Al–Ti3C2Tx/ANF nanocomposite films with different Al–Ti3C2Tx contents (orientation factor: 0.91). Among them, the 40 wt% Al–Ti3C2Tx/ANF film offers the benefits of excellent mechanical properties (strength: 200.79 ± 1.32 MPa, strain-to-failure: 8.05 ± 0.65 %, toughness: 9.96 ± 0.84 MJ/m3), high electrical conductivity (201.6 ± 5.5 S/cm), superior EMI shielding effectiveness of up to 15 264 dB cm2 g−1 in accordance with the theoretical calculation and high electrothermal conversion temperature up to ≈120.7 °C with a rapid response time of 4 s. In addition, the nanocomposite film also boasts a superhydrophobic property with a water contact angle of 162.0 ± 1.6° along with flame retardancy. The inherent properties of 2D materials and their highly ordered arrangement in the polymer matrix are expected to provide a feasible design proposal for preparing all-in-one multifunctional films.