Flexible reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets are being considered for applications in portable electrical devices and flexible energy storage systems. However, the poor mechanical properties and electrical conductivities of rGO sheets are limiting factors for the development of such devices. Here we use MXene (M) nanosheets to functionalize graphene oxide platelets through Ti-O-C covalent bonding to obtain MrGO sheets. A MrGO sheet was crosslinked by a conjugated molecule (1-aminopyrene-disuccinimidyl suberate, AD). The incorporation of MXene nanosheets and AD molecules reduces the voids within the graphene sheet and improves the alignment of graphene platelets, resulting in much higher compactness and high toughness. In situ Raman spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations reveal the synergistic interfacial interaction mechanisms of Ti-O-C covalent bonding, sliding of MXene nanosheets, and π-π bridging. Furthermore, a supercapacitor based on our super-tough MXene-functionalized graphene sheets provides a combination of energy and power densities that are high for flexible supercapacitors.

Although guest-filled carbon nanotube yarns provide record performance as torsional and tensile artificial muscles, they are expensive, and only part of the muscle effectively contributes to actuation. We describe a muscle type that provides higher performance, in which the guest that drives actuation is a sheath on a twisted or coiled core that can be an inexpensive yarn. This change from guest-filled to sheath-run artificial muscles increases the maximum work capacity by factors of 1.70 to 2.15 for tensile muscles driven electrothermally or by vapor absorption. A sheath-run electrochemical muscle generates 1.98 watts per gram of average contractile power-40 times that for human muscle and 9.0 times that of the highest power alternative electrochemical muscle.Theory predicts the observed performance advantages of sheath-run muscles.

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New families of carbon single-walled nanotubes are proposed and their electronic structures are investigated. These nanotubes, called graphynes, result from the elongation of covalent interconnections of graphite-based nanotubes by the introduction of yne groups. Analogously to ordinary nanotubes, armchair, zigzag, and chiral graphyne nanotubes are possible. We here predict the electronic properties of these unusual nanotubes using tight-binding and ab initio density functional methods. Of the three graphyne nanotube families analyzed here, two provide metallic behavior for armchair tubes and either metallic or semiconducting behavior for zigzag nanotubes. A diameter-and chirality-independent band gap is predicted for the other investigated graphyne family, as well as an oscillatory dependence of the effective mass on nanotube diameter.

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