The synergistic effect of a graphene nanoplate/Fe3O4@BaTiO3 hybrid and MWCNTs on enhancing broadband electromagnetic interference shielding performance

Abstract

In this work, methyl vinyl silicone rubber (VMQ) nanocomposites were prepared by solution blending VMQ, a graphene nanoplate/Fe₃O₄@BaTiO₃ hybrid (GFBT) and MWCNTs, aiming to improve the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance of VMQ. Using the low defect graphene nanoplates (GNPs) as a carrier of Fe₃O₄@BaTiO₃ nanoparticles, the GFBT hybrid was synthesized using a two-step solvothermal method. The micro morphology observed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) showed that Fe₃O₄ (∼200 nm) and BaTiO₃ (∼20 nm) were successfully loaded over GNPs. The GFBT hybrid and MWCNTs had good dispersion in the as-prepared VMQ/GFBT/MWCNTs (VGFBTM) nanocomposite. With a loading of 16.1 wt% total filler (GFBT : MWCNTs = 5 : 1), the shielding effectiveness (SE) of the VGFBTM composite ranged from 26.7 to 33.3 dB (>99.8% attenuation) in a wide frequency range of 1.0–20.0 GHz. A synergistic effect between the GFBT hybrid and MWCNTs provided good dielectric loss and magnetic loss, which played a significant role in improving the electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of VMQ. Besides, the electrical conductivity of the VGFBTM nanocomposite was improved compared with VMQ owing to the conducting network structure which was built from two-dimensional GNPs and one-dimensional MWCNTs.