Super-fast fabrication of mxene film through a combination of ion induced gelation and vacuum-assisted filtration

Abstract

MXene (Ti3C2Tx) film produced through regular vacuum-assisted filtration have advantages of high conductivity, excellent mechanical performance, good surface wettability and others. However, the production method costs a large amount of time and energy, greatly limiting large-scale application of such film. Inspired by filtration of silt, we reveal and verify the feasibility of fast film forming through vacuum-assisted filtration of two-dimensional (2D) materials by using ions to induce MXene colloidal dispersion to transform into three-dimensional (3D) microgel in this work. A suitable gap between MXene microgel is the premise of sustainable fast water molecule filtration; the strong gelation and internal riveting effect inside the microgel ensure the formability of MXene film. Therefore, the production of MXene film is dramatically shortened from a few hours to just dozens of seconds. More importantly, MXene film prepared in this way can be folded and rubbed, and presents more excellent mechanical property, high electrochemical performance, and good electromagnetic interference shielding effective. This work provides theoretical and technical support for effective production of MXene film with excellent comprehensive properties and is of great significance to large-scale MXene film preparation and application.