Nacre-inspired MMT-MXene integrated shear-stiffening gel composites for personal safeguard and multi-functional electronics

Developing structural composites with high energy-dissipating performance was vital for advancing personal protective equipment. Here, a nacre-mimetic composite with anti-impact, force-sensing and thermal-regulating performance was developed by introducing shear-stiffening gel (SSG) into montmorillonite (MMT)-MXene hierarchical network. A 4 mm-thick SSG-MMT-MXene (SMM) composite effectively reduced the impact force from 1308.1 N to 370.4 N, which was superior to many engineering materials. SMM implemented significant improvement of both structural stability and environmental adaptability. In addition, its ΔR/R0 increased from 230.3% to 14608.6% under impact, indicating SMM's potential as an electronic skin for environmental monitoring. Besides, its temperature reached 110.4 °C at 9 V loading-voltage and remained stable during multiple loading-unloading stimuli. Eventually, an SMM-based customizable intelligent protector was developed, enabling the detection of environmental variations and providing protection against mechanical impact and cold conditions. This novel strategy showed promising applications in lightweight body-armor and wearable electronics.