Investigation of the electric conductivity and the electromagnetic interference shielding efficiency of SWCNTs/GNS/PAni nanocomposites

This work demonstrates the fabrications and characterizations of polyaniline (PAni) composites containing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), graphite nanosheets (GNS), or hybrid fillers (SWCNTs/GNS). The characterization of microstructure, examination of fracture surface morphologies, and measurement of electric conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding efficiency (EMI SE) were performed. It was found that both the electric conductivity and the EMI SE increase with filler loading, and the nanocomposites filled with 1.0 wt.% SWCNTs/GNS possessed the highest electric conductivity of 16.2 S/cm and total EMI SE of 27.0 dB. The experimental results also show that absorption is the primary mechanism of EMI SE for all of the loadings and fillers.

► PAni nanocomposites filled with SWCNTs, GNS, or SWCNTs/GNS fillers were fabricated.
► The characterizations, electric conductivity, and EMI SE performance of the PAni nanocomposites were discussed.
► A significant improvement in EMI SE from 11.3 for pure PAni to 27.0 dB for 1.0 wt% SWCNTs + GNS nanocomposites was achieved.
► Contributions of absorption and reflection on total EMI SE of fabricated nanocomposites were discussed.