A synergistic strategy for SiC/C nanofibers@MXene with core-sheath microstructure toward efficient electromagnetic wave absorption and photothermal conversion

A ingenious approach of synergistic strategy between MXene and one-dimensional (1D) materials have been proved for enhancing the performance of composites. However, the problem of MXene aggregation in compounding processes usually reduces their superiority. Herein, few-layered Ti3C2Tx wrapped SiC/C nanofibers (SiC/C@MXene NFs) with a core-sheath microstructure were synthesized via a method of electrostatic self-assembly. Strong electrostatic adsorption bonding anchored the Ti3C2Tx sheets on surface of the SiC/C NFs, which effectively inhibited the self-restacking and thus efficiently enhanced their electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption and photothermal conversion performances. As a result, 8.0 wt% SiC/C@MXene NFs dispersed in paraffin simultaneously exhibited a minimum reflection loss (RL, dB) and effective absorption bandwidth (EAB, RL < -10 dB) of −70.9 dB and 6.32 GHz at 2.63 mm. Besides, 0.4 wt% SiC/C@MXene NFs dispersed in waterborne polyurethane (PU) achieved strong photothermal conversion abilities, with the maximum temperatures rising to 95, 145, 183, and 201 °C at light intensities of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 W cm−2, respectively. Therefore, the synergistic strategy effectively utilizes the structural advantages of the 2D Ti3C2Tx and 1D SiC/C NFs, endowing SiC/C@MXene NFs with core-sheath microstructure, and effectively improving their EM wave absorption and photothermal conversion performances.