Multifunctional Ti3C2TX MXene/Aramid nanofiber/Polyimide aerogels with efficient thermal insulation and tunable electromagnetic wave absorption performance under thermal environment

Nowadays, multifunctional electromagnetic (EM) wave absorbing aerogels have attracted much attention due to intelligent and wearable features for electronic devices. However, the utilization of these aerogels at elevated temperature is still challenge. Herein, we describe a robust strategy to fabricate architecturally controllable and multifunctional Ti3C2TX MXene/aramid nanofiber (ANF)/polyimide (PI) aerogels with desirable EM wave absorption, adjustable mechanical property, and high thermal insulation. Rational structural design endows the aerogels with an effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 4.2 GHz (covering whole X-band) at 250 °C. Exploration of the temperature response over 25–250 °C reveals that the microstructure characters of the aerogels contribute substantially to the EM parameters at elevated temperature, while the in-depth temperature-dependent mechanisms of aerogel EM performance are well studied. Further, through regulating the microstructure, the MXene/ANF/PI aerogels also exhibit tunable mechanical performance (maximum compressive stress of 334.3 KPa at 40% compression) and promising thermal insulation performance (0.029 ± 0.003 W mK−1, closing to air). These multifunctional aerogels light the way to potential application in the EM wave absorption field of flexible devices at elevated temperature.