Graphene/carbon fiber network constructed by co-carbonization strategy for functional integrated polyimide composites with enhanced electromagnetic shielding and thermal conductive properties

With the rapid development of electronic information and technology, materials with electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and thermal management are playing an increasingly important role in the semiconductor industry. However, the strategy of synthesizing the above dual-functional materials remain a challenge. Herein, the interconnected graphene/carbon fiber networks constructed by a facile co-carbonation strategy was reported to obtain the polyimide composites with EMI shielding properties and thermal conductivity (TC). The composite exhibited superior EMI shielding of ∼ 73 dB at the thickness of 2 mm when the carbon network content is 20 wt%. Moreover, the through-plane TC of the composite reaches 1.65 W·m−1·K−1, which is 611% higher than that of polymer matrix. We attribute the increased EMI shielding and TC properties to the construction of graphene/carbon fiber co-carbonation network, which provides an efficient and continuous electric conductive and thermally conductive network in the polyimide matrix. Moreover, the co-carbonation network can increase the polarization loss of electromagnetic waves while decreasing the interfacial thermal resistance between fillers. The structural–functional integration strategy is helpful for developing new high-performance dual-functional composites for the electronics and aerospace industries.