Ultra-stable graphene aerogels for electromagnetic interference shielding

Abstract

Graphene aerogels (GAs) are prevailing to solve electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues in next-generation electronic devices. However, the practical EMI shielding application of lightweight GAs is still a great challenge because of their structural instability when confronted with complex conditions. Here, we report a class of ultra-stable GAs with excellent and reliable EMI shielding performances. The GA (ρ = 3.7 mg cm−3) with face-to-face stacked structure exhibits a high shielding effectiveness (SE) of 64.1 dB at the thickness of 1 mm. The specific EMI SE reaches 173,243 dB cm2 g−1, far beyond the previous carbon-based materials. Meanwhile, the structural stability endows the GAs with outstanding resistance to external stimuli, such as mechanical deformation, extreme temperature, flame and underwater environments. The intrinsic conflict of low density and oversized volume is solved by vacuum bagging without structure and performance loss. Our GAs have paved the way for the practical EMI shielding materials and greatly broadened the applied scenes, such as aerospace, warcraft and ocean fields.