Ultrathin Cellulose Nanofiber Assisted Ambient-Pressure-Dried,Ultralight, Mechanically Robust,Multifunctional MXene Aerogels |
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Authors: | Na Wu Yunfei Yang Changxian Wang Qilei Wu Fei Pan Runa Zhang Jiurong Liu Zhihui Zeng |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, CH-8093 Switzerland;2. Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061 P.R. China;3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798 Singapore;4. Science and Technology on Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory, China Ship Development and Design Centre, Wuhan, 430064 P.R. China;5. Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, Mattenstrasse 24a, Basel, BPR 1096 Switzerland |
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Abstract: | Ambient-pressure-dried (APD) preparation of transition metal carbide/nitrides (MXene) aerogels is highly desirable yet remains highly challenging. Here, ultrathin, high-strength-to-weight-ratio, renewable cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are efficiently utilized to assist in the APD preparation of ultralight yet robust, highly conductive, large-area MXene-based aerogels via a facile, energy-efficient, eco-friendly, and scalable freezing-exchanging-drying approach. The strong interactions of large-aspect-ratio CNF and MXene as well as the biomimetic nacre-like microstructure induce high mechanical strength and stability to avoid the structure collapse of aerogels in the APD process. Abundant functional groups of CNFs facilitate the chemical crosslinking of MXene-based aerogels, significantly improving the hydrophobicity, water resistance, and even oxidation stability. The ultrathin, 1D nature of the CNF renders the minimal MXenes’ interlayered gaps and numerous heterogeneous interfaces, yielding the excellent conductivity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance of aerogels. The synergies of the MXene, CNF, and abundant pores efficiently improve the EMI shielding performance, photothermal conversion, and absorption of viscous crude oil. This work shows great promises of the APD, multifunctional MXene-based aerogels in electromagnetic protection or compatibility, thermal therapy, and oil-water separation applications. |
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Keywords: | aerogels ambient-pressure-dried processes multifunctionality MXene nanocellulose |
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