Scalable Fabrication of Ti3C2T MXene/RGO/Carbon Hybrid Aerogel for Organics Absorption and Energy Conversion.
High aspect ratio two-dimensional Ti3C2T MXene flakes with extraordinary mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties are ideal candidates for assembling elastic and conductive aerogels. However, the scalable fabrication of large MXene-based aerogels remains a challenge because the traditional preparation method relies on supercritical drying techniques such as freeze drying, resulting in poor scalability and high cost. Herein, the use of porous melamine foam as a robust template for MXene/reduced graphene oxide aerogel circumvents the volume shrinkage during its natural drying process. Through this approach, we were able to produce large size (up to 600 cm3) MXene-based aerogel with controllable shape. In addition, the aerogels possess an interconnected cellular structure and display resilience up to 70% of compressive strain. Some key features also include high solvent absorption capacity (∼50-90 g g-1), good photothermal conversion ability (an average evaporation rate of 1.48 kg m-2 h-1 for steam generation), and an excellent electrothermal conversion rate (1.8 kg m-2 h-1 at 1 V). More importantly, this passive drying process provides a scalable, convenient, and cost-effective approach to produce high-performance MXene-based aerogels, demonstrating the feasibility of commercial production of MXene-based aerogels toward practical applications.
['Jiang|Degang|D|', 'Zhang|Jizhen|J|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9584-9554', 'Qin|Si|S|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8127-4753', 'Hegh|Dylan|D|', 'Usman|Ken Aldren S|KAS|https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7102-6847', 'Wang|Jinfeng|J|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2568-2170', 'Lei|Weiwei|W|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2698-299X', 'Liu|Jingquan|J|https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6178-8661', 'Razal|Joselito M|JM|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9758-3702']
melamine foam natural drying MXene aerogel large-scale manufacturing multifunctional aerogel