Ultrathin MXene-aramid nanofiber electromagnetic interference shielding films with tactile sensing ability withstanding harsh temperatures

Abstract

Ultrathin and flexible electromagnetic shielding materials hold great potential in civil and military applications. Despite tremendous research efforts, the development of advanced shielding materials is still needed to provide additional functionalities for various artificial-intelligence-driven systems, such as tactile sensing ability. Herein, a layering design strategy is proposed to fabricate ultrathin Ti3C2Tx MXene-aramid nanofiber (MA) films by a layer-by-layer assembling process. Compared to that of randomly mixed films, the designed MA films exhibited a higher EMI shielding efficiency at an ultrathin thickness of 9 µm, which increased from 26.4 to 40.7 dB, owing to the additional multiple-interface scattering mechanism. Importantly, the novel MA films displayed strong EMI shielding ability even after heating/cooling treatments within a wide temperature range of −196 to 300 °C. Moreover, the same material displayed a tensile strength of 124.1 ± 2.7 MPa and a toughness of 6.3 ± 1.1 MJ·m−3, which are approximately 9.1 times and 45 times higher than those of pure MXene films, respectively. The MA film is also capable of detecting tactile signals via the triboelectric effect. A 2 × 4 tactile sensor array was developed to achieve an accurate signal catching capability. Therefore, in addition to the shielding performance, the manifestation of tactile perception by the MA films offers exciting opportunities in the fields of soft robotics and human-machine interactions.