Densification via bridging layers MXenes are a family of layered two-dimensional metal carbides and nitrides with interesting properties that can be lost if voids are formed during synthesis. By using a sequential combination of hydrogen and covalent bonding agents, Wan et al . were able to densify the layered structure and remove voids. This procedure leads to improvements in the mechanical strength and toughness, electrical conductivity, and shielding from electromagnetic interference. —MSL

Graphene is the strongest and stiffest material, leading to the development of promising applications in many fields. However, the assembly of graphene nanosheets into macrosized nanocomposites for practical applications remains a challenge. Nacre in its natural form sets the "gold standard" for toughness and strength, which serves as a guide to the assembly of graphene nanosheets into high-performance nanocomposites. Here we show the strong, tough, conductive artificial nacre based on graphene oxide through synergistic interactions of hydrogen and covalent bonding. Tensile strength and toughness was 4 and 10 times higher, respectively, than that of natural nacre. The exceptional integrated strong and tough artificial nacre has promising applications in aerospace, artificial muscle, and tissue engineering, especially for flexible supercapacitor electrodes due to its high electrical conductivity. The use of synergistic interactions is a strategy for the development of high-performance nanocomposites.

With its extraordinary properties as the strongest and stiffest material ever measured and the best-known electrical conductor, graphene could have promising applications in many fields, especially in the area of nanocomposites. However, processing graphene-based nanocomposites is very difficult. So far, graphene-based nanocomposites exhibit rather poor properties. Nacre, the gold standard for biomimicry, provides an excellent example and guidelines for assembling two-dimensional nanosheets into high performance nanocomposites. The inspiration from nacre overcomes the bottleneck of traditional approaches for constructing nanocomposites, such as poor dispersion, low loading, and weak interface interactions. This tutorial review summarizes recent research on graphene-based artificial nacre nanocomposites and focuses on the design of interface interactions and synergistic effects for constructing high performance nanocomposites. This tutorial review also focuses on a perspective of the dynamic area of graphene-based nanocomposites, commenting on whether the concept is viable and practical, on what has been achieved to date, and most importantly, what is likely to be achieved in the future.

Inspired by the ternary structure of natural nacre, robust ternary artificial nacre is constructed through synergistic toughening of graphene oxide (GO) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets via a vacuum-assisted filtration self-assembly process. The synergistic toughening effect from high mechanical properties of GO and lubrication of MoS2 nanosheets is successfully demonstrated. Meanwhile, the artificial nacre shows high electrical conductivity. This approach for constructing robust artificial nacre by synergistic effect from GO and MoS2 provides a creative opportunity for designing and fabricating integrated artificial nacre in the near future, and this kind of ternary artificial nacre has great potential applications in aerospace, flexible supercapacitor electrodes, artificial muscle, and tissue engineering.

Titanium carbide (Ti3C2Tx) MXene has great potential for use in aerospace and flexible electronics due to its excellent electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. However, the assembly of MXene nanosheets into macroscopic high-performance nanocomposites is challenging, limiting MXene’s practical applications. Here we describe our work fabricating strong and highly conductive MXene sheets through sequential bridging of hydrogen and ionic bonding. The ionic bonding agent decreases interplanar spacing and increases MXene nanosheet alignment, while the hydrogen bonding agent increases interplanar spacing and decreases MXene nanosheet alignment. Successive application of hydrogen and ionic bonding agents optimizes toughness, tensile strength, oxidation resistance in a humid environment, and resistance to sonication disintegration and mechanical abuse. The tensile strength of these MXene sheets reaches up to 436 MPa. The electrical conductivity and weight-normalized shielding efficiency are also as high as 2,988 S/cm and 58,929 dB∙cm2/g, respectively. The toughening and strengthening mechanisms are revealed by molecular-dynamics simulations. Our sequential bridging strategy opens an avenue for the assembly of other high-performance MXene nanocomposites.