Highly Conductive Transition Metal Carbide/Carbonitride(MXene)@polystyrene Nanocomposites Fabricated by Electrostatic Assembly for Highly Efficient Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

TLDR

Highly conductive polymer nanocomposites are highly sought for electromagnetic interference shielding, yet achieving extreme conductivity with minimal MXene loading remains challenging despite MXenes’ potential. This study aims to demonstrate an electrostatic assembly approach to fabricate highly conductive MXene@polystyrene nanocomposites. Negative MXene nanosheets are electrostatically assembled onto positively charged polystyrene microspheres and then compression molded into bulk composites. The composites exhibit a percolation threshold of 0.26 vol %, a conductivity of 1081 S m⁻¹, and EMI shielding >54 dB across the X‑band (up to 62 dB at 1.90 vol % MXene), while their storage modulus is 54 % and 56 % higher than neat polystyrene and conventional MXene@polystyrene composites, respectively, confirming a superior methodology for efficient EMI shielding.

Abstract

Abstract Highly conductive polymer nanocomposites are greatly desired for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding applications. Although transition metal carbide/carbonitride (MXene) has shown its huge potential for producing highly conductive films and bulk materials, it still remains a great challenge to fabricate extremely conductive polymer nanocomposites with outstanding EMI shielding performance at minimal amounts of MXenes. Herein, an electrostatic assembly approach for fabricating highly conductive MXene@polystyrene nanocomposites by electrostatic assembling of negative MXene nanosheets on positive polystyrene microspheres is demonstrated, followed by compression molding. Thanks to the high conductivity of MXenes and their highly efficient conducting network within polystyrene matrix, the resultant nanocomposites exhibit not only a low percolation threshold of 0.26 vol% but also a superb conductivity of 1081 S m −1 and an outstanding EMI shielding performance of >54 dB over the whole X‐band with a maximum of 62 dB at the low MXene loading of 1.90 vol%, which are among the best performances for electrically conductive polymer nanocomposites by far. Moreover, the same nanocomposite has a highly enhanced storage modulus, 54% and 56% higher than those of neat polystyrene and conventional MXene@polystyrene nanocomposite, respectively. This work provides a novel methodology to produce highly conductive polymer nanocomposites for highly efficient EMI shielding applications.