Graphene foam/conductive polymer composites for lightweight electromagnetic interference shielding

Ying Wu, Zhenyu Wang, Xu Liu, Xi Shen, Qingbin Zheng, Jang Kyo Kim

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

This paper presents our recent work [1]on developing a novel and facile strategy for the fabrication of highly conductive and lightweight graphene foam (GF)/poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) composites for effective electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. The surfactant, 4-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid, is applied for noncovalent functionalization of cellular-structured, freestanding GFs to enhance the wettability and the interfacial interactions between GFs and PEDOT: PSS and thus help coat PEDOT: PSS on GFs. A uniform and highly porous structure is developed, showing a high porosity of 98.8% and a low density of 18.2× 10-3 g/cm3. A much enhanced electrical conductivity from 11.8 to 43.2 S/cm is achieved and discussion is made of interfacial interactions and physical/morphological changes on both the microscopic and nanoscopic scales. The highly conductive PEDOT: PSS coating bridges resistive grain boundaries and connects open areas of the cellular structure of GFs. Negative permittivities and permeabilities are observed for the composites, an indication of charge delocalization at the interfaces of PEDOT: PSS and GFs on a microscopic scale. Thanks to the lightweight porous structure, excellent electrical conductivities and effective charge delocalization, the GF/PEDOT: PSS composites deliver exceptional EMI shielding performances with a shielding effectiveness (SE) of 91.9 dB and specific SEs of 3124 dB·cm3/g and 20800 dBcm2/g normalized by volumetric and area densities, respectively. These excellent EMI shielding performances are among the best of reported values for different composites. The remarkable EMI shielding properties and proposed mechanisms in this work can shed new insights into how one can improve EMI shielding performance.

Original languageBritish English
StatePublished - 2017
Event21st International Conference on Composite Materials, ICCM 2017 - Xi'an, China
Duration: 20 Aug 201725 Aug 2017

Conference

Conference21st International Conference on Composite Materials, ICCM 2017
Country/TerritoryChina
CityXi'an
Period20/08/1725/08/17

Keywords

  • Electrical conductivity
  • EMI shielding
  • Graphene foam composites
  • Ultralightweight

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