Hypothesis: Stemming from their unique superiorities, Ti3C2-MXenes have emerged as versatile 2D materials for a myriad of appealing applications. However, two crucial issues are detrimental to maximize the inherent properties of MXenes for further specific developments, i.e. restacking problem and environmental instability.
Experiments: Herein, we develop an effective strategy, constructing water-in-ionic liquid (W/IL) Pickering emulsions with further polymerization of the continuous phase, to fabricate oxidation stability enhanced Ti3C2-MXene based porous materials. It is the first time to utilize a brand new platform between the immiscible IL and water for MXene nanosheets to assemble with guest species serving as building blocks for macromonoliths.
Findings: The prepared porous materials can provide elastic hollow-sphere structures derived from emulsion template, for wearable piezoresistive sensor with high sensitivity, excellent accuracy and favorable reproducibility. Intriguingly, ILs as dispersion and surface modification with polymeric ionic liquids (PILs) play indispensable roles in ameliorating oxidation stability of MXenes in porous materials, by virtue of quenching reactive oxygen species (ROS) and forming protective layer through the capping effect. Furthermore, the processed aerogels after supercritical drying can selectively absorb several organic solvents owing to their high hydrophobicity, abundant porosity and sufficient mechanical strength. All results indicate that the innovative strategy can simultaneously circumvent two major drawbacks of MXenes for the first time, and shed light on the opportunity to further enrich their practical applications by constructing multifunctional platform.
Keywords: Oil/water separation; Oxidation stability; Porous materials; Ti(3)C(2)-MXene; W/IL Pickering emulsion; Wearable piezoresistive sensor.
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