Abstract
Ti3C2Tx MXene is an emerging class of two-dimensional nanomaterials with exceptional electroconductivity and electrochemical properties, and is promising in the manufacturing of multifunctional macroscopic materials and nanomaterials. Herein, we develop a straightforward, continuously controlled, additive/binder-free method to fabricate pure MXene fibers via a large-scale wet-spinning assembly. Our MXene sheets (with an average lateral size of 5.11 μm2) are highly concentrated in water and do not form aggregates or undergo phase separation. Introducing ammonium ions during the coagulation process successfully assembles MXene sheets into flexible, meter-long fibers with very high electrical conductivity (7,713 S cm−1). The fabricated MXene fibers are comprehensively integrated by using them in electrical wires to switch on a light-emitting diode light and transmit electrical signals to earphones to demonstrate their application in electrical devices. Our wet-spinning strategy provides an approach for continuous mass production of MXene fibers for high-performance, next-generation, and wearable electronic devices.
Similar content being viewed by others
Introduction
Two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets with fascinating properties are building blocks for potential applications1,2. Compared with their bulk counterparts, 2D nanomaterials are easy-to-assemble structures for nanoscale architectures that have appealing electronic, chemical, physical, and mechanical properties; a high specific surface area; and versatile surface chemistries3,4,5. To date, various 2D materials, such as graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), black phosphorus (BP), and transition metal oxides (TMOs), have garnered considerable attention, and many strategies have been proposed to develop them into macroscopic structures6,7,8,9,10. For example, significant advancements have been made regarding the development of macroscopic one-dimensional (1D) carbon-based fibers prepared from graphene oxides (GO)11. Graphene-related fibers have gained considerable interest because of their versatile functionalities, such as lightweight, mechanical flexibility, bendability, stretchability, and the ability to be woven into textiles for the next generation of smart electronic gadgets12,13. In particular, to realize the macroscopic assembly of 2D nanosheets into fiber structures, the wet-spinning process, which utilizes the phase change ability of highly concentrated colloidal dispersions (i.e., \ in the liquid state) to transform into gel-fiber assemblies and solid fibers in a coagulation bath, has been demonstrated as a versatile pathway for the long and continuous mass production of fibers11,14. Notably, understanding the molecular interaction between sheets and systematic studies on the parameters of the coagulation process are crucial to achieving fiber formation from individual colloidal particles.
Ti3C2Tx MXene is composed of transition metal nitrides and carbides (MXenes) and has been extensively explored as an emerging family of 2D materials because of its excellent electrical–thermal conductivity, mechanical, and chemical properties, and wide range of potential applications15,16,17,18,19. MXenes have the general configuration of Mn+1XnTx, in which M, X, and T represent transition metals, carbon/nitrogen, and surface terminal functionalities, such as O, F, and OH, respectively. MXenes are typically obtained as sheet materials with a nanoscale thickness via the delamination of the MAX (Mn+1AXn) phase16. Very recently, several researchers have attempted to fabricate MXene-based fibers using wet-spinning and electrospinning with MXene/polymer blend dope solutions and MXene/rGO for coassembly20,21. However, the intrinsically high electrical conductivity of pure Ti3C2Tx MXene (up to 9880 S cm−1 for spray-cast films) is lower than that of MXene composites with reduced GO (rGO) (72–290 S cm−1)21,22, CNT fiber (26 S cm−1)23, and PEDOT:PSS (1489 S cm−1)24, showing that the conductivity of MXenes is not fully utilized in the fiber form. The crucial challenge regarding wet-spinning for pure MXene fibers is the weak self-supporting organization because of poor interlayer interaction between the relatively small MXene sheets. In addition, a low concentration of dispersion has made it challenging to process MXene directly into a 1D fiber form.
Herein, we report a straightforward and reliable synthetic route for continuously controlled fabrication of additive/binder-free, composite-free, entirely pure 1D MXene fibers with high electrical conductivity by a wet-spinning assembly (Fig. 1). The dispersion with a relatively large Ti3C2Tx MXene sheet (the average size and aspect ratio were ~5.11 μm2 and 1600, respectively) at a high concentration (25 mg mL−1) demonstrated highly stable colloidal properties in a lyotropic liquid-crystalline phase. The wet-spinning of the 2D MXene spinning dope successfully produced flexible meter-long continuous MXene fibers with an ultrahigh electrical conductivity of 7713 S cm−1. The MXene fibers that exhibited excellent performance were used for the electrical wires to switch on an LED light and wires to transmit electrical signals to earphones. Furthermore, the MXene fibers showed high flexibility and excellent mechanical properties. The wet-spinning strategy reported in this work suggests a method for the continuous mass production of MXene fibers, which indicates that they are promising candidates for high-performance, flexible, portable, and wearable electronics. The development of nanoscale properties on the macroscopic level using a scalable assembly represents progress toward the practical application of these extraordinary 2D materials.
Results
Synthesis and characterization of Ti3C2Tx MXene sheets
A MAX-phase (Ti3AlC2) powder with graphite-like stacked-layer structures was observed in images obtained via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Fig. 2a and Supplementary Fig. 1a). MXene (Ti3C2Tx) sheets were obtained by selectively etching the Al from a Ti3AlC2 powder using LiF and HCl, as reported previously25. SEM images of fully exfoliated MXene monolayers showed an average lateral size of 2.26 ± 0.95 μm (Fig. 2b and Supplementary Fig. 1b, c). The height profile obtained via atomic force microscopy (AFM) mapping revealed that the MXene sheets had a height of 1.35–1.81 nm, which corresponded to a single layer of the MXene, implying the successful exfoliation of the sheets (Supplementary Fig. 1d and e)26. The folded MXene was identified as a double layer according to the AFM height profile, which showed a height of 3.31–3.72 nm; this agrees with the results of previous reports26. Conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) clearly showed that the MXene sheets were very electrically conductive (Fig. 2d, e). The prepared MXene monolayer was also observed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and highly crystalline lattice fringes with a lattice spacing of 0.26 nm corresponding to the Ti3C2Tx (100) plane were clearly observed in the HR-TEM images. The selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern confirmed that the MXene sheets had a typical hexagonal symmetry (Supplementary Fig. 2a and b). The XRD pattern and the atomic percent of MXene confirmed the complete etching of the Al layer (Supplementary Fig. 2c and Supplementary Table 1)27. The corresponding elemental maps confirmed the uniform distribution of all elements, suggesting that the surface of the MXene sheet contained oxygen and fluorine as termination groups (Supplementary Fig. 2d).
The chemical functionalities of the exfoliated MXene sheets were further examined via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The deconvoluted C1s, O1s, and Ti2p XPS peaks demonstrated that inherent termination groups, such as C–Ti–Tx, C–Ti–(OH)x, and C–Ti–Ox, existed on the surface of the MXene and were likely introduced during the Al etching of the MAX crystals (Fig. 3a, b, Supplementary Fig. 2a–c). Notably, these surface functionalities are important for the formation of a stable dispersion in an aqueous medium28. The negative surface charge values increased with the pH of MXene, owing to the ionizable surface termination groups, suggesting strong electrostatic repulsion between the adjacent sheets (Fig. 3c)29,30. The apparent dispersibility of the MXene was observed at various concentration ranges (Fig. 3d), and no sediment was formed on the bottom of the vials at different MXene concentrations. The absorbance of the MXene dispersion was examined, as shown in Supplementary Fig. 3d. In the inset of Supplementary Fig. 3d, a linear relationship between the UV absorbance and concentration of MXene sheets was observed, confirming the stability of the dispersed state31.
Rheological properties of MXene ink
At a high concentration (25 mg mL−1), the MXene dispersion formed a viscous ink with a viscosity of 3.87 × 103 Pa s and without aggregates and phase separation of solid particles and dispersing media (Fig. 3e)28,32. Based on Onsager’s theoretical prediction model, MXene sheets can exhibit lyotropic liquid-crystalline properties from ~16 mg mL−1 33. As shown in Fig. 3f, the MXene dispersion (25 mg mL−1) also exhibited birefringence between two crossed polarizers, indicating the formation of a liquid-crystalline phase as a result of local orientation that did not aggregate. As is often observed in complex fluid systems containing rigid polymer chains, the viscosity of the MXene increased with the concentration and decreased with an increase in the shear rate (Fig. 3g)34,35,36. Furthermore, the shear stress of the MXene dispersion significantly decreased at the initial stage and then gradually increased with the shear rate (Fig. 3h), suggesting that the randomly oriented MXene sheets became arranged as a result of the shear-induced deformation10. A decrease in the shear stress was clear in concentrated dispersions (higher than 15 mg mL−1). Notably, the ratio of the storage modulus to the loss modulus (G′/G″) of a dispersion can be used as an indicator for the spinnability of liquid-crystalline 2D colloidal dispersions37. Wallace et al. reported that the wet-spinning of GO dispersions is achievable when the value of G′/G″ is between 1.80 and 6.36 at an angular rate of 0.02 Hz. Gogotsi et al. also expected that highly concentrated MXene dispersions can be wet-spun into fibers by following this relation35. Similarly, we found that the spinnability of an MXene dispersion could be predicted using the G′/G″ value of the MXene. Experimentally, at 5 mg mL−1, the MXene dispersion herein was not capable of forming fibers because of the weak gel strength, and the value of G′/G″ was 13.33 (Supplementary Fig. 4). When the G′/G″ value of the MXene was 6.64 at 12 mg mL−1, the fiber was not stably formed herein, but MXene dispersions with over 15 mg mL−1 (the G′/G″ value was 5.29 at 15 mg mL−1) were successfully fabricated into MXene fibers (Fig. 3i).
Wet-spinning of pure MXene fibers
Note that the colloidal stability of MXene sheets can be considerably affected by salts. The role of NH4 ions in the gelation of MXene dispersions was confirmed by the vial inversion method (Fig. 4a)14. Indeed, similar to the behavior of graphene and other 2D materials, the high degree of exfoliation/delamination and gelation of MXenes is essential for continuous fiber fabrication. The prepared MXene liquid crystal dispersion was extruded into a coagulation solution with NH4 ions and then washed in a water bath through a reel to produce continuous fibers using a simple wet-spinning method (Fig. 4b and Supplementary video). The extruded MXene did not form gel fibers without NH4 ions (Supplementary Fig. 5). Finally, the fibers were dried in air for 24 h and formed uniform, long, continuous MXene fibers oriented in the axial direction. The meter-long MXene fibers produced on a large scale by continuous spinning were wound onto a bobbin (Fig. 4c). The extruded 100% pure MXene fibers that were longer than 1 m were stable with continuous spinning (Fig. 4d). The cross-section of the MXene fibers showed a lamellar structure with highly compact nanosheets (Fig. 4e–g). The rugged morphology on the side of the fibers indicated that drying and shrinking occurred (Fig. 4g). Highly conducting MXene fibers were used for an electrical application that involved successfully switching on a white light-emitting diode (LED) light (Fig. 4h). Furthermore, the MXene fibers replaced commercially used wires and were integrated into earphone wires to transmit electrical signals (Fig. 4i, Supplementary audio).
Performances of MXene fiber
Figure 5 compares the electrical conductivity and Young’s modulus of our fabricated MXene fibers with those of MXene hybrid fibers and graphene fibers fabricated in previous studies (Supplementary Fig. 6 and Supplementary Table 2)21,22,23,24,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45. From the Ashby plot, it is clear that our wet-spun pure MXene fibers are superior to the other considered fibers in terms of electrical conductivity and Young’s modulus. The electrical conductivity of the MXene fibers (7713 S cm−1) was almost 107 and 27 times higher than that of MXene/graphene hybrid fibers (72.3 and 290 S cm−1, respectively)21,22 and five times higher than that of MXene/PEDOT:PSS fibers (1490 S cm−1)24, which were reported previously. Furthermore, the conductivity of the MXene fibers in this work was ~12–220 times higher than that of the graphene fibers38,39,40,41,42,43,44. In addition, the pure MXene fibers were 3.2 times more conductive than reported MXene films at the macroscopic scale, implying that the MXene fibers had a well-constructed structure45.
Discussion
We effectively developed pure Ti3C2Tx MXene fibers that were free of additives/binders or composites via a straightforward, continuous, large-scale, wet-spinning strategy. The large Ti3C2Tx MXene sheets had an excellent dispersion at a high concentration of 25 mg mL−1 and demonstrated liquid-crystalline patterns and rheological properties of lyotropic liquid crystals. The Ti3C2Tx MXene fibers fabricated by a wet-spinning method herein exhibited a very high electrical conductivity of 7713 S cm−1, and flexible, continuous, meter-long MXene fibers were successfully fabricated. Considering these outstanding properties, we comprehensively integrated the Ti3C2Tx MXene fibers in electrical wires for switching on an LED light and transmitting electrical signals to earphones to demonstrate the application of the fibers in miniaturized portable devices. Therefore, we believe that our wet-spinning strategy for continuous mass production of pure Ti3C2Tx MXene fibers offers a way to exploit the original nanoscale potential of MXenes at the macroscopic scale. In addition, the approach herein advances the use of a large family of MXenes in next-generation flexible, portable, and wearable miniaturized electronic devices.
Methods
Materials
The layered ternary carbide (Ti3AlC2) MAX-phase powders were purchased from Carbon-Ukraine Ltd. (particle size < 200 μm, Ukraine). The chemicals, including hydrochloric acid (HCl), lithium fluoride (LiF), ammonium chloride (NH4Cl), and ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH), were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Co (St. Louis, MO, USA). Deionized water (DIW) was obtained using a water-purification system (Direct Q3) purchased from Millipore (Bedford, MA, USA).
Synthesis of the Ti3C2Tx MXene
The Ti3C2Tx MXene was obtained from Ti3AlC2 precursors by modifying a previously reported method25. A quantity of 2 g of LiF was dissolved into 40 mL of a 9 M HCl solution in a reactor. The solution was stirred for 30 min at 35 °C. After slowly adding 2 g of the Ti3AlC2 (MAX phase) powder, the mixture was stirred in an argon atmosphere for 24 h. The Al layer in the MAX phase was etched to exfoliate the Ti3C2Tx. Then, 40 mL of the obtained solution was divided into 20 mL conical tubes and diluted with water (20 mL). To separate the MXene dispersion from the acid, it was washed with water using a centrifuge until the pH reached 6. As the pH of the solution was almost neutral, the MXene in the dispersion did not sink well through centrifugation due to an increase in the negative zeta potential of their surface. The washed solution (pH 6) was centrifuged repeatedly to purify the MXene sheets and to concentrate the MXene dispersion. The obtained solution was sealed with parafilm and stored at ~5 °C.
Wet-spinning of the pure Ti3C2Tx (All-MXene) fibers
The MXene dispersion was placed in a syringe and extruded through the nozzle (diameter = 210 μm) into the prepared coagulant. The coagulate solution was a mixture of NH4Cl (50 g), NH4OH solution (20 mL), and DIW (1000 mL). The MXene dispersions were extruded at a velocity of 7 mL h−1. The extruded MXene fibers in the coagulate solution were transferred to a washing bath by rollers. The washed fibers were dried in air and then stored in a dry chamber.
Characterization
The concentration of the concentrated dispersion was defined by cross-validation with the Beer–Lambert Law using UV–vis spectroscopy (Lambda 650S, Perkin Elmer, USA) and directly measuring the mass of the powder per unit volume of dispersion using an ultra-micro balance (XPR2U, Mettler-Toledo GmbH, Greifensee, Switzerland). The dimensions of the MXene sheets and the morphologies of the MXene fibers were characterized using SEM (S4800, Hitachi, Japan) at 15 kV and 10 μA without Pt sputtering. The topography of the MXene sheets was observed via AFM (XE-70, Park Systems, Korea) in tapping mode. The measured data were processed using a data processing and analysis software (XEI, Park Systems). The topography and a current image of the MXene nanosheets on the Si wafers were obtained simultaneously during the C-AFM scan. In this study, we conducted current measurements on the in-plane surface, which was consistent with the direction of the carrier transport parameter measurements. A cantilever (CDT-CONTR, Park systems) was used, and the measurement was performed with a fixed bias of 10 V. The cantilever had a resonance frequency of ~20 kHz, a spring constant of 0.5 N m−1, and a tip radius between 100 and 200 nm. All measurements were performed at room temperature (~25 °C) and in ambient conditions. The synthesized MXene single layer was characterized using HR-TEM (JEM-2100F, JEOL, Japan). The terminal group and the chemical state of the MXene were analyzed via XPS (Theta probe, Thermo Scientific, UK) with monochromatic Al Kα radiation. The XPS spectra were analyzed using Xpspeak41 software. The rheological properties of the MXene dispersion were measured using a rheometer (MCR 501, Anton Paar, Austria) under both steady shear and dynamic oscillatory conditions. The viscoelastic properties of the Ti3C2Tx dispersion were investigated by measuring the storage and loss modulus as a function of frequency from 0.1 to 1000 rad/s. During the frequency sweep, the strain amplitude was maintained at 0.1% (a gap of 1 mm, 25 °C)35. An optical image of the meter-long MXene fibers with a ruler was obtained by joining several close-up images taken vertically from above the fibers because the fibers were too thin for an image to be obtained from far away. The tensile properties of the MXene fibers prepared from different concentrations of dispersion were investigated using a universal testing machine (5966, Instron, USA) equipped with a 10 N load cell that operated at a crosshead speed of 2.5 mm min−1 and had a gauge length of 25 mm; the tensile measurements of single ultrafine fibers reported in a previous study were used as a reference14. The fibers were loaded on a specific rectangular frame. The mechanical strength of the MXene fibers was calculated by dividing the force by the cross-sectional area. The electrical conductivity of the MXene fibers was measured using a multimeter (DMM 7510 1/2, Keithley Instruments, USA) via the four-point probe method. Four electrodes were separated by a distance of 0.4 mm. Since the conductivity of MXene fibers is highly affected by the atmospheric humidity, the measurement was made in a dry chamber. The conductivity (ρ) of a single fiber was calculated according to Eq. (1) as follows46:
where d is the diameter, R is the electrical resistance, and L is the length of the fiber. The diameter of the fiber was calculated based on the cross-sectional area measured in the scanning electron microscope (Supplementary Fig. 7).
Prediction of phase change using the Onsager model
To predict the critical value of the anisotropic phase, we measured the distribution of the MXene monolayer lateral sizes (Supplementary Fig. S1c) and found a reasonable agreement with the Onsager model for lyotropic liquid crystals in a disk formulation. The concentration (mass fraction) at the isotropic–nematic phase transition (C, the critical value) was calculated according to Eq. (2) as follows33:
where d and l are the lateral size and thickness of the MXene nanosheets, respectively; ρMXene is the true material density (5.2 g cm3)47; and C is the concentration (mass fraction) at the isotropic–nematic phase transition.
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.
References
Compton, O. C. & Nguyen, S. T. Graphene oxide, highly reduced graphene oxide, and graphene: versatile building blocks for carbon-based materials. Small 6, 711–723 (2010).
Mas-Balleste, R., Gomez-Navarro, C., Gomez-Herrero, J. & Zamora, F. 2D materials: to graphene and beyond. Nanoscale 3, 20–30 (2011).
Liu, J. et al. Hydrophobic, flexible, and lightweight MXene foams for high-performance electromagnetic-interference shielding. Adv. Mater. 29, 1702364 (2017).
Kurra, N., Ahmed, B., Gogotsi, Y. & Alshareef, H. N. MXene-on-paper coplanar microsupercapacitors. Adv. Energy Mater. 6, 1601372 (2016).
Dong, Z. et al. Facile fabrication of light, flexible and multifunctional graphene fibers. Adv. Mater. 24, 1856–1861 (2012).
Chen, C. et al. Functionalized boron nitride membranes with ultrafast solvent transport performance for molecular separation. Nat. Commun. 9, 1902 (2018).
Xia, P., Zhu, B., Yu, J., Cao, S. & Jaroniec, M. Ultra-thin nanosheet assemblies of graphitic carbon nitride for enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction. J. Mater. Chem. A 5, 3230–3238 (2017).
Wang, H., Feng, H. & Li, J. Graphene and graphene-like layered transition metal dichalcogenides in energy conversion and storage. Small 10, 2165–2181 (2014).
Zhu, W. et al. Black phosphorus flexible thin film transistors at gigahertz frequencies. Nano Lett. 16, 2301–2306 (2016).
Sun, Z. et al. Generalized self-assembly of scalable two-dimensional transition metal oxide nanosheets. Nat. Commun. 5, 3813 (2014).
Park, H. et al. Dynamic assembly of liquid crystalline graphene oxide gel fibers for ion transport. Sci. Adv. 4, eaau2104 (2018).
Aboutalebi, S. H. et al. High-performance multifunctional graphene yarns: toward wearable all-carbon energy storage textiles. ACS Nano 8, 2456–2466 (2014).
Meng, Y. et al. All-graphene core-sheath microfibers for all-solid-state, stretchable fibriform supercapacitors and wearable electronic textiles. Adv. Mater. 25, 2326–2331 (2013).
Eom, W. et al. Strengthening and stiffening graphene oxide fiber with trivalent metal ion binders. Part. Part. Syst. Charact. 34, 1600401 (2017).
Lukatskaya, M. R. et al. Ultra-high-rate pseudocapacitive energy storage in two-dimensional transition metal carbides. Nat. Energy 2, 17105 (2017).
Naguib, M. et al. Two-dimensional nanocrystals produced by exfoliation of Ti3AlC2. Adv. Mater. 23, 4248–4253 (2011).
Hantanasirisakul, K. et al. Fabrication of Ti3C2Tx MXene transparent thin films with tunable optoelectronic properties. Adv. Electron. Mater. 2, 1600050 (2016).
Peng, Y.-Y. et al. All-MXene (2D titanium carbide) solid-state Microsupercapacitors for on-chip energy storage. Energy Environ. Sci. 9, 2847–2854 (2016).
Yang, W. et al. 3D Printing of freestanding MXene architectures for current-collector-free supercapacitors. Adv. Mater. 31, 1902725 (2019).
Jiang, C. et al. All-electrospun flexible triboelectric nanogenerator based on metallic MXene nanosheets. Nano Energy 59, 268–276 (2019).
Seyedin, S., Yanza, E. R. S. & Razal, J. M. Knittable energy storing fiber with high volumetric performance made from predominantly MXene nanosheets. J. Mater. Chem. A 5, 24076–24082 (2017).
Yang, Q. et al. MXene/graphene hybrid fibers for high performance flexible supercapacitors. J. Mater. Chem. A 5, 22113–22119 (2017).
Wang, Z. et al. High-performance biscrolled MXene/carbon nanotube yarn supercapacitors. Small 14, 1802225 (2018).
Zhang, J. et al. Highly conductive Ti3C2Tx MXene hybrid fibers for flexible and elastic fiber-shaped supercapacitors. Small 15, 1804732 (2019).
Alhabeb, M. et al. Guidelines for synthesis and processing of two-dimensional titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx MXene). Chem. Mater. 29, 7633–7644 (2017).
Lipatov, A. et al. Elastic properties of 2D Ti3C2Tx MXene monolayers and bilayers. Sci. Adv. 4, eaat0491 (2018).
Liu, F. et al. Preparation of Ti3C2 and Ti2C MXenes by fluoride salts etching and methane adsorptive properties. Appl. Surf. Sci. 416, 781–789 (2017).
Maleski, K., Mochalin, V. N. & Gogotsi, Y. Dispersions of two-dimensional titanium carbide MXene in organic solvents. Chem. Mater. 29, 1632–1640 (2017).
Li, Y. et al. Facile preparation of in situ coated Ti3C2Tx/Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 composites and their electromagnetic performance. RSC Adv. 7, 24698–24708 (2017).
Kim, S. J. et al. Interfacial assembly of ultrathin, functional MXene films. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11, 32320–32327 (2019).
Choi, H., Seok Woo, J., Tark Han, J. & Park, S.-Y. Fabrication of water-dispersible single-walled carbon nanotube powder using N-methylmorpholine N-oxide. Nanotechnology 28, 465706 (2017).
Xia, Y. et al. Thickness-independent capacitance of vertically aligned liquid-crystalline MXenes. Nature 557, 409–412 (2018).
Guo, F. et al. Hydration-responsive folding and unfolding in graphene oxide liquid crystal phases. ACS Nano 5, 8019–8025 (2011).
Morris, E. R., Cutler, A., Ross-Murphy, S., Rees, D. & Price, J. Concentration and shear rate dependence of viscosity in random coil polysaccharide solutions. Carbohydr. Polym. 1, 5–21 (1981).
Akuzum, B. et al. Rheological characteristics of 2D titanium carbide (MXene) dispersions: a guide for processing MXenes. ACS Nano 12, 2685–2694 (2018).
Jalili, R. et al. Formation and processability of liquid crystalline dispersions of graphene oxide. Mater. Horiz. 1, 87–91 (2014).
Naficy, S. et al. Graphene oxide dispersions: tuning rheology to enable fabrication. Mater. Horiz. 1, 326–331 (2014).
Jalili, R. et al. Scalable one‐step wet‐spinning of graphene fibers and yarns from liquid crystalline dispersions of graphene oxide: towards multifunctional textiles. Adv. Funct. Mater. 23, 5345–5354 (2013).
Cong, H.-P. et al. Wet-spinning assembly of continuous, neat, and macroscopic graphene fibers. Sci. Rep. 2, 613 (2012).
Xu, Z. & Chao, G. Graphene chiral liquid crystals and macroscopic assembled fibres. Nat. Commun. 2, 571 (2011).
Chen, L. et al. Toward high performance graphene fibers. Nanoscale 5, 5809–5815 (2013).
Xu, Z. et al. Ultrastrong fibers assembled from giant graphene oxide sheets. Adv. Mater. 25, 188–193 (2013).
Xiang, C. et al. Large flake graphene oxide fibers with unconventional 100% knot efficiency and highly aligned small flake graphene oxide fibers. Adv. Mater. 25, 4592–4597 (2013).
Ma, T. et al. A bioinspired interface design for improving the strength and electrical conductivity of graphene‐based fibers. Adv. Mater. 30, 1706435 (2018).
Ling, Z. et al. Flexible and conductive MXene films and nanocomposites with high capacitance. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 16676–16681 (2014).
Rebouillat et al. Measuring the electrical conductivity of single fibres. Int. J. Electrochem. Sci. 6, 5731–5740 (2011).
Naguib et al. Two-dimensional transition metal carbides. ACS Nano 6, 1322–1331 (2012).
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Basic Science Research Program (2017R1A2B4010771 and 2016R1A6A1A03013422) of the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning. The prepared samples were analyzed using TEM, XPS, and XRD instruments installed at the Hanyang LINC Analytical Equipment Center (Seoul).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Conceptualization, T.H.H.; methodology and investigation, W.E., H.S., R.B.A., S.H.L., K.H.L., D.J.K., and T.H.H.; supervision, T.H.H.; W.E., H.S., R.B.A., S.H.L., K.H.L., D.J.K., and T.H.H. contributed to the writing of, reading of, and commenting on the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Peer review information Nature Communications thanks Zong-Huai Liu and other, anonymous, reviewers for their contributions to the peer review of this work. Peer review reports are available.
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Source data
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Eom, W., Shin, H., Ambade, R.B. et al. Large-scale wet-spinning of highly electroconductive MXene fibers. Nat Commun 11, 2825 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16671-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16671-1
This article is cited by
-
Braille glove design toward interdisciplinary approach for visually impaired people: developing independent sensing design with MXene and embroidery
Fashion and Textiles (2024)
-
Sustainable 3D printing by reversible salting-out effects with aqueous salt solutions
Nature Communications (2024)
-
Coaxial Wet Spinning of Boron Nitride Nanosheet-Based Composite Fibers with Enhanced Thermal Conductivity and Mechanical Strength
Nano-Micro Letters (2024)
-
Deciphering feedback regulation of prostaglandin F2α in blood stasis syndrome using nitrogen-doped porous transition metal carbides
Microchimica Acta (2024)
-
Integrating MXene/MWCNTs into aptasensor capable of ultrasensitive quantification of cTnI towards the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction
Chemical Papers (2024)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.