Robust bioinspired MXene-based flexible films with excellent thermal conductivity and photothermal properties

Abstract A flexible cellulose nanofibers/MXene@Ag film with nacre-like structure is constructed by a facile vacuum-assisted filtration process. The composite film shows an outstanding thermal conductivity of 22.43 W m−1 K−1 at 30 wt% MXene@Ag loading, which enhances 769% relative to the pure CNFs film. This is mainly due to the bridging effect of silver nanoparticles can greatly reduce the interface thermal resistance between MXene nanosheets in the CNFs matrix. Particularly, the CNF/MXene film present a typical biomimetic nacre-like structure, which resulting in the satisfactory mechanical properties with a tensile strength of 71.4 ± 2.8 MPa and a toughness of 1.0 ± 0.06 MJ m−3. Moreover, the composite film exhibits excellent photothermal properties that the surface temperature of the CNF/MXene@Ag film can rose to ~48 °C after 210 s of 55 W light irradiation. Hence, our work provides a facial method for preparation of multifunctional thermal management film.