MXene
aerogels with a porous microstructure are a promising electromagnetic
interference (EMI) shielding material due to its low density and excellent
electrical conductivity, which has attracted widespread attention.
Compared with traditional EMI shielding materials that rely on reflection
as the primary mechanism, MXene aerogels with absorption as the dominant
mechanism have greater potential for development as a novel EMI shielding
material because of its ability to reduce environmental contamination
from reflected electromagnetic (EM) waves from materials. In this
study, a novel Ti3C2T
x
MXene/PEDOT:PSS hybrid aerogel was presented by freeze-drying
and thermal annealing using few-layered Ti3C2T
x
MXene and the conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)
(PEDOT:PSS). PEDOT:PSS not only improved the gelling ability of Ti3C2T
x
but also successfully
established a conductive bridge between MXene nanosheets. The experimental
results demonstrated that the hybrid aerogel exhibited an obvious
porous microstructure, which was beneficial for the multiple scattering
of EM waves within the materials. The EMI shielding effectiveness
and specific shielding effectiveness reached up to 59 dB and 10,841
dB·cm2·g–1, respectively, while
the SE
R
/SE
T
ratio value was only 0.05, indicating superior wave absorption performance.
Furthermore, the good impedance matching, due to the electrical conductance
loss and polarization loss effect of the composites, plays a critical
role in their excellent wave absorption and EMI shielding performance.
Therefore, this work provides a practical approach for designing and
fabricating lightweight absorption-dominated EMI shielding materials.
Graphene aerogel is a promising electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding material because of its light weight, excellent electrical conductivity, uniform three-dimensional (3D) microporous structure, and good mechanical strength. The graphene aerogel with high EMI shielding performance is attracting considerable critical attention. In this study, a novel procedure to fabricate high EMI shielding graphene aerogel was presented, inspired by the irreversible deformation of hydrogels under mechanical pressure. The procedure involved a mechanical compression step on graphene hydrogels for the purpose of altering microstructures followed by freeze-drying and thermal annealing at 900 °C to generate the final products. Because of the flow of internal liquid caused by mechanical compression, the microstructures of hydrogels changed from a cellular configuration to a layered configuration. After a high degree of compression, GAs can be endowed with homogeneous layered structure and high density, which plays a leading role in electromagnetic wave dissipation. Consequently, the aerogels with excellent electrical conductivity (181.8 S/m) and EMI shielding properties (43.29 dB) could be obtained. Besides, the compression process enabled us to form complex hydrogel shapes via different molds. This method enhances the formability of graphene aerogels and provides a robust way to control the microstructure.
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