Highly Flexible Ti₃C₂T MXene/Waterborne Polyurethane Membranes for High-Efficiency Terahertz Modulation with Low...

The dynamic control of terahertz (THz) wave transmission on flexible functional materials is a fundamental building block for wearable electronics and sensors in the THz range. However, achieving high-efficiency THz modulation and low insertion loss is a great challenge while maintaining the excellent flexibility and stretchability of the materials. Herein, we report a Ti₃C₂T MXene/waterborne polyurethane (WPU) membrane prepared by a vacuum-assisted filtration method, which exhibits excellent THz modulation properties across stretching. The hydrophilic Ti₃C₂T MXene and WPU enable the uniform 3D distribution of Ti₃C₂T MXene in the WPU matrix. Particularly, the stretchability with the maximum strain of the membranes can reach 200%, accompanied by dynamic tuning of THz transmittance for more than 90% and an insertion loss as low as -4.87 dB. The giant THz modulation continuously decreases with MXene content per unit area, accompanied by a lower density of the MXene interface and diminished THz absorption during stretching. Such a design opens a pathway for achieving flexible THz modulators with a high modulation depth and low insertion loss, which would be used for THz flexible and wearable devices.