Textiles are versatile with wide-ranging applications in many industries from fashion to medical, from aerospace to construction. Recent efforts in incorporating conductive materials and functional additives into textiles promise unprecedented functions such as energy storage, sensing, temperature regulation, EMI shielding – transforming ordinary textiles into advanced devices wherever they serve. However, few functional additives possess both desired properties and compatibility with existing textile manufacturing processes, limiting their real-world applications. MXenes are an emerging class of 2D transition metal carbides, nitrides and carbonitrides, offering high electrical conductivity (over 20,000 S/cm) without a need for post processing (e.g., chemical reduction and annealing). With tunable rheological properties and dispersibility in polar solvents (e.g., water, DMSO or DMF), MXenes have been successfully 1) coated onto numerous fibers, yarns and textiles by dip coating, inkjet printing and screen printing, and 2) introduced into polymeric matrices to form composite fibers by wet spinning, dry spinning, and electrospinning. A wide range of MXene loadings and patterning have been delivered for various target applications, on/in cellulosic materials (cotton, linen, rayon), polyurethane (PU), polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and polyamides (nylon, Kevlar®). Moreover, the abundant surface groups and large aspect ratio of MXene flakes bring not only redox surfaces for energy storage, but also strong interactions with polymeric substrate/matrix. These interactions provide strong MXene adhesion to polymer as well as good polymer-MXene load transfer for mechanical reinforcement (Young’s modulus of a single MXene flake up to 330 GPa), allowing MXene functionalized fibers and yarns to withstand washing and industrial knitting. In addition, synthesized in a scalable top-down approach, MXenes give distinct colors (e.g., blue, green, purple), unique IR and EMI properties, depending on the structure and chemistry. With this rare combination of properties, MXenes open ample opportunities for smart textile innovations.

MXene-polymer fiber systems for conductive and multifunctional textiles

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