Highly Ordered Thermoplastic Polyurethane/Aramid Nanofiber Conductive Foams Modulated by Kevlar Polyanion for Piezoresistive Sensing and Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

• Published in: Nano-micro letters Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 88 - 18
• Main Authors: Qian, Kunpeng, Zhou, Jianyu, Miao, Miao, Wu, Hongmin, Thaiboonrod, Sineenat, Fang, Jianhui, Feng, Xin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01.12.2023; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Aramid fiber reinforced plastics; Copper; Elastic recovery; Electroless deposition; Electroless plating; Electromagnetic interference; Electromagnetic shielding; Engineering; Highly ordered conductive foams; Kevlar (trademark); Kevlar polyanion; MXene; Nanofiber; Nanofibers; Nanoparticles; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Original; Original Article; Phase separation; Piezoresistive sensing; Plastic foam; Polyelectrolytes; Polyurethane foam; Protonation; Reducing agents; Special issue on EM Wave Functional Materials; Storage modulus; Superhigh frequencies; Thermoplastic; Urethane thermoplastic elastomers; Electromagnetic interference shielding; MXene; Piezoresistive sensing; Nanofiber; Kevlar polyanion; Thermoplastic; Highly ordered conductive foams
• ISSN: 2311-6706; 2150-5551; 2150-5551
• DOI: 10.1007/s40820-023-01062-0

Highlights Kevlar polyanionic chains induced the formation of highly ordered porous thermoplastic polyurethane foams with adjustable pore sizes. A tiny amount of Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene was performed as reducing agent for the electroless deposition of copper nanoparticles. The conductive foam reinforced by aramid nanofibers exhibited excellent piezoresistive sensing and electromagnetic interference shielding performance. Highly ordered and uniformly porous structure of conductive foams is a vital issue for various functional purposes such as piezoresistive sensing and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. With the aids of Kevlar polyanionic chains, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) foams reinforced by aramid nanofibers (ANF) with adjustable pore-size distribution were successfully obtained via a non-solvent-induced phase separation. In this regard, the most outstanding result is the in situ formation of ANF in TPU foams after protonation of Kevlar polyanion during the NIPS process. Furthermore, in situ growth of copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs) on TPU/ANF foams was performed according to the electroless deposition by using the tiny amount of pre-blended Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene as reducing agents. Particularly, the existence of Cu NPs layers significantly promoted the storage modulus in 2,932% increments, and the well-designed TPU/ANF/Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene (PAM-Cu) composite foams showed distinguished compressive cycle stability. Taking virtues of the highly ordered and elastic porous architectures, the PAM-Cu foams were utilized as piezoresistive sensor exhibiting board compressive interval of 0–344.5 kPa (50% strain) with good sensitivity at 0.46 kPa −1 . Meanwhile, the PAM-Cu foams displayed remarkable EMI shielding effectiveness at 79.09 dB in X band. This work provides an ideal strategy to fabricate highly ordered TPU foams with outstanding elastic recovery and excellent EMI shielding performance, which can be used as a promising candidate in integration of satisfactory piezoresistive sensor and EMI shielding applications for human–machine interfaces. Graphical Abstract