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Thermally conductive polyvinyl alcohol composite films via introducing hetero-structured MXene@silver fillers

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Abstract

Ag nanoparticles were in-situ grown on the surface of MXene nanosheets to prepare thermally conductive hetero-structured MXene@Ag fillers. With polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the polymer matrix, thermally conductive MXene@Ag/PVA composite films were fabricated by the processes of solution blending, pouring, and evaporative self-assembly. With the same mass fraction, MXene@Ag-III (MXene/Ag, 2:1, w/w) presents more significant improvement in thermal conductivity coefficient (λ) than MXene@Ag, single MXene, Ag, and simply blending MXene/Ag. MXene@Ag-III/PVA composite films show dual functions of excellent thermal conductivity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. When the mass fraction of MXene@Ag-III is 60 wt.%, the in-plane λ (λ∥), through-plane λ (λ⊥), and EMI shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) are 3.72 and 0.41 W/(m·K), and 32 dB, which are increased by 3.1, 1.3, and 105.7 times than those of pure PVA film (0.91 and 0.18 W/(m·K), and 0.3 dB), respectively. The 60 wt.% MXene@Ag-III/PVA composite film also has satisfying mechanical and thermal properties, with Young’s modulus, glass transition temperature, and heat resistance index of 3.8 GPa, 58.5 and 175.3 °C, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the support and funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. U21A2093 and 51973173), the Technological Base Scientific Research Projects (Highly Thermally Conductive Nonmetal Materials), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Undergraduate Innovation & Business Program in Northwestern Polytechnical University (Nos. S202210699381 and S202210699172), the Innovation Foundation for Doctor Dissertation of Northwestern Polytechnical University (No. CX2022073). This work was also financially supported by the Polymer Electromagnetic Functional Materials Innovation Team of Shaanxi Sanqin Scholars. We would like to thank the Analytical & Testing Center of Northwestern Polytechnical University for SEM, TEM, and XRD tests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queen Mary University of London Engineering School, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Mukun Li, Yuyao Sun & Junwei Gu

  2. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Science and Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Kunpeng Ruan & Junwei Gu

  3. Shandong Nonmetallic Materials Institute, Jinan, 250031, China

    Dianying Feng & Xia Liu

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  1. Mukun Li
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  2. Yuyao Sun
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Correspondence to Kunpeng Ruan or Junwei Gu.

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Li, M., Sun, Y., Feng, D. et al. Thermally conductive polyvinyl alcohol composite films via introducing hetero-structured MXene@silver fillers. Nano Res. 16, 7820–7828 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5594-1

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