Ti3C2Tx MXene -AgNW composite flexible transparent conductive films for EMI shielding

Abstract Herein, nanosheets-silver nanowire (AgNW) based composite transparent conductive films (TCFs) with polyurethane (PU) as substrates were prepared. Nanosheets-AgNW based composite TCFs possess outstanding optoelectrical properties and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performances, and novel Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets illustrate superior performances than graphene oxide nanosheets due to metallic conductivity. MXene-AgNW TCF performs a sheet resistance of 16 Ω/sq, a transmittance of 86.1% and an EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of 27.8 dB in 8–13 GHz, resulting from the synergistic effect of conductive nanosheets and nanowires. AgNW network embedded in PU and coated by MXene nanosheets exhibits promoted surface roughness with a root mean square roughness of 5.4 nm, and optoelectrical properties can remain after 5000 bending cycles or 90 s corrosion of Na2S solution. The novel solution process fabricated MXene-AgNW composite TCFs with outstanding optoelectrical properties, smoothness, stability and EMI shielding performance illustrate a great potential for commercial application in next-generation flexible electronics.