Layered Biomimetic Composites from MXenes with Sequential Bridging

Abstract

Layer‐by‐layer (LbL) assembly is a widely used technique for the self‐assembly of layered nanocomposites from clay sheets, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, nanoparticles, and other materials. Other approaches for fabricating layered nanocomposites include vacuum‐assisted filtration and blade coating. They are simpler than LbL assembly, but they all introduce voids into the layered structure, thereby reducing the performance of the resulting nanocomposites. A team from Beihang University evaluated the void structure in Ti3C2Tx MXene composites and found that the fundamental problem with voids can be solved by the sequential nanoscale bonding of MXEne platelets with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose combined with covalent bridging with borate ions, thereby opening a new path to self‐assemble two‐dimensional platelets into continuous high‐performance layered nanocomposites.Layered nanocomposites fabricated by techniques other than layer‐by‐layer assembly (e.g. vacuum‐assisted filtration and blade coating) contain voids in their structure, which reduces their performance. Cheng and co‐workers have now found that the problem of voids in Ti3C2Tx MXene composites can be solved by sequential bridging of MXEne platelets with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose combined with covalent bridging by borate ions.