Microwave-assisted reduction and sintering to construct hybrid networks of reduced graphene oxide and MXene for electromagnetic interference shielding

Abstract

Graphene is a prospective electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding material in light of remarkable electrical conductivity. Nevertheless, the preparation of graphene through reduction of graphene oxide (GO) is an energy/time consuming process. We utilized Ti3C2Tx as an efficient initiator to achieve the thermal reduction of GO under microwave irradiation. Simultaneously, the continuous networks of rGO/Ti3C2Tx were constructed in sintered composite by locally melting and welding polysulfone under appropriate irradiation conditions. The composite with a 1:4 ratio of GO to Ti3C2Tx treated by irradiation of 10 s possessed an EMI SE of 52.81 dB with a thickness of 2 mm, while the shielding effectiveness of reflection (SER) only reached 4.8 dB. Besides, the intensity ratio of D to G-band (ID/IG) for composite treated by appropriate microwave dropped from 1.20 to 0.74. Therefore, selective microwave heating might be a clean and low-consumption strategy for large-scale production of rGO and manufacture of high-performance composites with EMI shielding property.