A binder jet 3D printed MXene composite for strain sensing and energy storage application

Polymer composite materials have been proven to have numerous electrical related applications ranging from energy storage to sensing, and 3D printing is a promising technique to fabricate such materials with a high degree of freedom and low lead up time. Compared to the existing 3D printing technique for polymer materials, binder jet (BJ) printing offers unique advantages such as a fast production rate, room temperature printing of large volume objects, and the ability to print complex geometries without additional support materials. However, there is a serious lack of research in BJ printing of polymer materials. In this work we introduce a strategy to print poly(vinyl alcohol) composites with MXene-surfactant ink. By ejecting highly conductive MXene particles onto a PVOH matrix, the resulting sample achieved conductive behaviour in the order of mS m −1 with demonstrated potential for strain sensing and energy storage. This work demonstrates that BJ printing has the potential to directly fabricate polymer composite materials with different end applications. For the first time we demonstrate a binder jet printed polymer composite with various end functionalities. MXene nanoparticles are formulated into an ink for printing. The printed part is used both as strain sensor and as capacitor.