Graphene
electrothermal coatings have attracted considerable attention
in recent years due to their important application prospects in a
broad range of areas. So far, lots of strategies have been explored
for producing them. However, these strategies usually involve a complicated
process with sophisticated conditions, limiting their scalable applications.
Herein, we demonstrate a facile strategy for preparing efficient,
robust, and flame-retardant electrothermal coatings from liquid-phase
exfoliated graphene, by combining with multiwalled carbon nanotubes
(MWCNTs) and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) nanoparticles.
This relies on the use of a hyperbranched polyethylene copolymer that
simultaneously bears UV-reactive moieties and POSS terminal groups.
As a stabilizer, the copolymer can effectively promote the exfoliation
of both graphite and MWCNTs in common organic solvents under sonication,
rendering the POSS-functionalized graphene and MWCNTs well dispersible
in the solvent. From their dispersions, POSS-functionalized graphene/MWCNT
hybrid electrothermal coatings have been successfully prepared simply
by vacuum filtration and UV irradiation under mild conditions. It
has been confirmed that a dually cross-linking structure can be formed
in the hybrid system. This significantly improves the thermal resistance
of resultant coatings, which remain exhibiting a stable work state
even at a temperature high as 280 °C without the occurrence of
flammation. Meanwhile, this also endows them with excellent electrothermal
performance and service stability. At a relatively low voltage, 15
V, the steady temperature can reach 188.4 °C, with a response
time < 30 s; after being alternately folded for 2700 cycles or
scraped 200 times, the coating still maintains a stable state. In
particular, the process involved is relatively simple with mild conditions.
With these features, the coatings obtained herein may find their important
applications in the area of wearable devices and household heating
systems.