A highly conductive MXene-based rubber composite with relatively stable conductivity under small deformation and high sensing sensitivity at large strain

Nowadays, flexible conductive materials (FCMs) have made progress in pursuing multi-performance with high conductivity, high sensitivity and stable conductive application in deformation. However, it remains a challenge to design FCMs with relatively stable conductivity under small strain but high sensitivity at large strain. Here, we report a conductive composite based on carboxylic styrene butadiene rubber (XSBR) and Ti3C2Tx MXenes using sodium alginate (SA) as dispersing agent. It owns a percolation threshold of 5.11 wt%, high electrical conductivity of 5.99 S/m and high stretchability up to 270%. The composite keeps relatively stable conductivity of no less than 4.11 S/m within 60% strain where its relative resistance change is only 35% while it shows high sensitivity with gauge factor of 11.35 beyond 120% strain. The XSBR/MXene/SA composite can be applied in sensors area which may require relatively stable and high conductivity under small strain and simultaneously could monitor action with large strain.