MXene-coated devices can guide microwaves in space and lighten the payload

One of the most important components of satellites that enable telecommunication is the waveguide, which is a metal tube for guiding radio waves. It is also one of the heaviest payloads satellites carry into orbit. Now, researchers from Drexel University and the University of British Columbia are trying to lighten the load by creating and testing a waveguide made from 3D-printed polymers coated with a conductive nanomaterial called MXene. "MXene materials provide one of the thinnest possible coatings … that can create a conductive surface,” said Yury Gogotsi, one of the scientists involved in this study.