AuCu decorated MXene/RGO aerogels towards wearable thermal management and pressure sensing applications

MXene based aerogels with efficient thermal insulation, excellent electrical conductivity, reversible compressibility, and high durability hold great potential for various applications, ranging from wearable electronics to multifunctional scaffolds. How to balance various performance to adapt to more application scenarios is an urgent problem to be solved. In the present work, honeycomb AuCu alloy nanoparticles decorated Ti3C2Tx MXene/RGO aerogels (MXene/RGO/AuCu NPs aerogels) were prepared by a simple reduction and directional freeze-drying method. The optimized MXene/RGO/AuCu NPs aerogels have low density (0.023 g/cm3), flame retardant, robust mechanical properties (longitudinal and transverse compressive modulus of 450.9 kPa and 79.9 kPa at 90% strain, respectively) and 80% compressive elasticity. The deformable porous structure enables it to respond to pressure, which has been proved to be applied to pulse and human respiration monitoring. The ordered pore structure and the LSPR effect of MXene and AuCu particles make aerogels have heat resistance, flame retardancy, good electrothermal (can rise to 245.2 °C in 6 s at 7 V drive voltage) and photothermal properties (109 °C in 10 s at 1sun sunlight intensity). The excellent thermal management capability and pressure sensing characteristics make it a prospect application in wearable flexible heaters and artificial skin.