MXene/metal oxides-Ag ternary nanostructures for electromagnetic interference shielding

Abstract

The development of smart, structured hybrid materials with superior electrical conductivity are vastly desired for the depletion of unwanted electromagnetic interference (EMI). Herein, novel multilayered two-dimensional MXene/Metal Oxides-Ag ternary hybrid nanostructures with various heterogeneous assemblies were constructed by self-reduction and oxidation of MXene (Nb2CTx and Ti3C2Tx) in the presence of metallic salt (AgNO3), and its EMI shielding performance in X- and Ku-band are demonstrated. The effect of different silver nitrate addition into MXene on their structural evaluation reveals that the successful formation of MXene/Metal Oxides-Ag (Nb2CTx/Nb2O5-Ag; Ti3C2Tx/TiO2-Ag) ternary hybrid nanostructures derived from MXene (Nb2CTx; Ti3C2Tx). Remarkably, the Nb2CTx/Nb2O5-Ag hybrid assembly attains reflection dominated shielding performance with a maximum total shielding effectiveness of 68.76 dB and 72.04 dB in the X- and Ku-band region respectively at a thickness of 1 mm compared to other nanostructures. The large enhancement in electromagnetic shielding capability of ternary nanostructure attributed to the strong electrical conductivity and increased interface polarization and multiple reflection loss between the ternary interfaces. The synergistic effect of metallic silver nanoparticles, semiconducting metal oxides and conducting stacked multilayer causes to conduction loss, polarization effect (dipole, and interfacial polarization), and multiple reflections of incoming radiation favor the complete dissipation of EM waves. Consequently, the demonstrated simple, cost-effective, and large scale production of highly conductive composites could pave for the potential prospect materials in advanced EM wave shielding applications.