High performance nanocomposites can potentially solve the bottleneck problems of miniaturization and lightweight in the field of aerospace. Although MXenes show excellent mechanical and electrical properties, the properties of MXene-based nanocomposites are much lower than expectation. It was found that the void is an essential factor to decrease the properties of MXene-based nanocomposites, but usually neglected in the past decades. Herein, we applied both focused ion beam and scanning electron microscopy tomography and nanoscale x-ray computed tomography to reconstruct the void microstructure of MXene-based nanocomposites. We further developed a simple and effective densification strategy to cure the voids using a sequential bridging process with different interfacial interactions. The resultant sequentially bridged MXene-based nanocomposites[1-4] achieved dramatical improvement in mechanical properties, resistance to cyclic mechanical deformation, oxidation, and stress relaxation etc.
[1] X. Deng*, and Q. Cheng* et al. Nature 2024, 634, 1103-1110.
[2] Q. Cheng* et al. Science 2024, 385, 62-68. (Cover)
[3] R. H. Baughman* and Q. Cheng* et al. Science 2024, 383, 771-777.
[4] Q. Cheng* et al. Science 2021, 374, 96-99.