Analysis of tunneling conductivity for MXene polymer system by the network of interphase: parametric examinations and experimental validation

This investigation introduces a pioneering procedure to assess the effective conductivity of composites incorporating MXene nanosheets. The proposed model takes into account a variety of factors as the dimensions and volumetric fraction of MXene, the onset of percolation, tunneling characteristics, network fraction, the total resistance of the nanocomposite, and the interphase thickness. The forecasts generated by the proposed model are in strong accordance with the empirical conductivity measurements collected from a range of laboratory samples. Moreover, a comprehensive analysis has been carried out to explore how the predicted conductivity correlates with various parameters, thereby validating the efficiency of the suggested method. The electrical conductivity reaches 1.26 S/m, when the MXene nanoparticle has a minimum thickness of 1 nm at the maximum contact diameter of 20 nm. However, as the thickness of the MXene nanoparticle increases and the contact diameter diminishes, the nanocomposite conductivity reduces. Notably, when the MXene nanoparticle thickness exceeds 2 nm or the contact diameter falls below 8 nm, the conductivity sharply declines to zero, turning the nanocomposite into an insulator.