Aqueous solution-processed MXene (Ti3C2Tx) for non-hydrophilic epoxy resin-based composites with enhanced mechanical and physical properties

Herein, MXene (Ti(3)C(2)Tx)/epoxy composites with homogeneously dispersed Ti(3)C(2)Tx sheets have been successfully prepared through functionalization of Ti(3)C(2)Tx, and the effects of Ti(3)C(2)Tx on mechanical and physical proper ties of epoxy are studied. It is found that the addition of 0.2 wt% Ti(3)C(2)Tx leads to increased tensile strength and flexural strength by 51% and 32%, respectively. However, higher filler content of Ti(3)C(2)Tx causes defects due to agglomeration, which decreases the mechanical properties of the composites. The addition of Ti(3)C(2)Tx to the epoxy improves the storage modulus because of the reduction in the crosslinking density in the epoxy matrix. More over, the glass transition temperatures also decline monotonically with increasing MXene content. Moreover, Ti(3)C(2)Tx is found to enhance the thermal and electrical conductivities of the epoxy composites, which arouses more enthusiasm for applications in coatings, supercapacitor packaging, 3D printing, and fabrication of multifunctional devices. (c) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).