Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

MXene, a recently-discovered family of two-dimensional (2 D) transition metal carbides and/or nitrides, have attracted much interest because of their unique electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. In this study, poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), polyethylene oxide (PEO), poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and alginate/PEO were electrospun with delaminated Ti3C2 (MXene) flakes. The effect of small additions of delaminated Ti3C2 (1% w/w) on the structure and properties of the nanofibers were investigated and compared with those of the neat polymer nanofibers using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Ti3C2 had an effect on the solution properties of the polymer and a greater effect on the average fiber diameter. The Ti3C2Tx/PEO solution exhibited the largest change in viscosity and conductivity with an 11% and 73.6% increase over the base polymer, respectively. X-ray diffractograms demonstrated a high degree of crystallization for Ti3C2/PEO and a slight decrease in crystallinity for Ti3C2/PVA.

composite nanofibers, electrospinning, MXene