High-Performance Multifunctional Carbon–Silicon Carbide Composites with Strengthened Reduced Graphene Oxide

Abstract

Materials with low density, exceptional thermal and corrosion resistance, and ultrahigh mechanical and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance are urgently demanded for aerospace and military industries. Efficient design of materials’ components and microstructures is crucial yet remains highly challenging for achieving the above requirements. Herein, a strengthened reduced graphene oxide (SrGO)-reinforced multi-interfacial carbon–silicon carbide (C-SiC) n matrix (SrGO/(C-SiC) n ) composite is reported, which is fabricated by depositing a carbon-strengthening layer into rGO foam followed by alternate filling of pyrocarbon (PyC) and silicon carbide (SiC) via a precursor infiltration pyrolysis (PIP) method. By increasing the number of alternate PIP sequences (n = 1, 3 and 12), the mechanical, electrical, and EMI shielding properties of SrGO/(C-SiC) n composites are significantly increased. The optimal composite exhibits excellent conductivity of 8.52 S·cm–1 and powerful average EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of 70.2 dB over a broad bandwidth of 32 GHz, covering the entire X-, Ku-, K-, and Ka-bands. The excellent EMI SE benefits from the massive conduction loss in highly conductive SrGO skeletons and polarization relaxation of rich heterogeneous PyC/SiC interfaces. Our composite features low density down to 1.60 g·cm–3 and displays robust compressive properties (up to 163.8 MPa in strength), owing to the uniformly distributed heterogeneous interfaces capable of consuming great fracture energy upon loadings. Moreover, ultrahigh thermostructural stability (up to 2100 °C in Ar) and super corrosion resistance (no strength degradation after long-term acid and alkali immersion) are also discovered. These excellent comprehensive properties, along with ease of low-cost and scalable production, could potentially promote the practical applications of the SrGO/(C-SiC) n composite in the near future.

Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube@Graphene Paper/Polydimethylsilane Composites for Electromagnetic Interference Shielding and Flexible Joule Heating

“…The EMI SE of our VACNT@GP/PDMS composite is compared with the values reported in previous studies in Figure e. Obviously, the SE value of the VACNT@GP/PDMS composites is 75.4–106.7 dB with a thickness ranging from 150 to 560 μm, which is much higher than those of other shielding materials at a similar thickness (100–3000 μm), including graphene-, ,, CNT-, ,, MXene-, − cellulous-, − carbon fiber-, metal-, and ceramic-based materials − (the details are provided in Table S1). In addition, EMI SE/ t is usually normalized to eliminate the influence of thickness.…”

In Situ Fabrication of Magnetic and Hierarchically Porous Carbon Films for Efficient Electromagnetic Wave Shielding and Absorption

“…At present, research on porous carbon-based EMI materials mainly focuses on nanocarbon porous materials, polymeric foam-derived carbon foams, and biomass-derived porous carbon blocks. , Especially, carbon-based films, mats, foams, and aerogels derived from nanocarbon materials possess exceptional electrical conductivities and were considered as promising EMI-shielding materials. , Liu et al assembled MXene sheets into films, followed by a hydrazine-induced foaming process to form a porous structure to improve the multiple reflection and absorption effects of incident EM waves. The maximum EMI shielding efficiency (SE) value of the MXene film reached 70 dB in the X band .…”

Covalent Cross‐Links Enable the Formation of Ambient‐Dried Biomass Aerogels through the Activation of a Triazine Derivative for Energy Storage and Generation

“…They have been developed from thermal insulators to electrodes for capacitive deionization, energy storage, moisture-enabled electric generators (MEG), and moisture/mechanical sensors. [1][2][3][4][5] Although different aerogels have been constructed through traditional freeze-drying, supercritical drying, and ambient pressure-drying, [6] they still face a challenge to dry at ambient conditions and achieve high performance with a shrinkage below 10%.…”