Synergistic effect of graphene and carbon nanotube for high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding films

Macro-assembled carbon-based films (GF) have demonstrated tremendous functional applications as high electrical/thermal conductors, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials. Here, we report the synergistic effect of graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNT), that electrical conductivity significant improves from 1.78 x 10(5) to 2.74 x 10(5) S m(-1), and thermal conductivity improves from 510 to 1154 W m(-1) K-1 simply by adding 20 wt% CNTs into the graphene films. Moreover, the EMI shielding performance of the macro-assembled graphene-CNT composite films improves from similar to 50 dB for pure GF to similar to 60 dB for GF with 20 wt% CNT load. Our finding of the synergistic effect opens an avenue to design materials with higher electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and EMI shielding performance. (c) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.