EMI shielding properties of laminated graphene and PbTiO3 reinforced poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) nanocomposites

In this paper, PEDOT/reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/PbTiO3 nanocomposites have been synthesized using facile insitu chemical oxidative polymerization method. The synthesis method leads to the formation of core-shell structured nanocomposites containing PbTiO3 as primary filler and RGO as secondary filler in PEDOT matrix. The core-shell morphology of the composites has been confirmed using transmission electron microscope with average particle size 20-30 nm observed for PbTiO3. The incorporation of RGO and PbTiO3 in the PEDOT matrix has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction. A systematic study on electromagnetic shielding properties and the effect of PbTiO3 concentration on different properties has been carried out. The ferro-electric PbTiO3 with RGO induced dielectric loss in the composites, whereas, PEDOT establish a conducting network over RGO layer and PbTiO3 nanoparticles that improve electromagnetic shielding properties by increasing the dielectric loss. As a result, an enhanced electromagnetic shielding effectiveness value of 51.94 dB (>99.999% attenuation) has been achieved in 12.4-18 GHz frequency range. The nanocomposites were further characterized using Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis.