Influence of Graphene Loading on the Multifunctionality of Additively Manufactured Polymer-Derived Ceramics

• Graphene-reinforced PDCs fabricated via DLP additive manufacturing. • Multifunctional SiOC(N) ceramics achieved with ≤0.2 wt.% graphene. • Electrical conductivity reached 0.37 S cm⁻¹ at minimal filler content. • Cubic gyroid lattices showed superior compressive strength to cylindrical ones. • Scalable route to lightweight, conductive, heat-resistant ceramics. This study presents a straightforward formulation route for additively manufactured, architected multifunctional polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) by dispersing graphene (0–0.2 wt.%) in a mixture of cyclosilazane and photosensitive resin, followed by pyrolysis. Multiscale characterization (FTIR, Raman, XRD, XPS/EDS, μ-CT) confirms conversion to an amorphous SiOC(N) matrix containing free/turbostratic carbon and minor β-SiC domains. At only 0.2 wt.% graphene, the ceramic attains a room-temperature electrical conductivity of 0.37 S cm⁻ 1 , surpassing many reported PDCs that rely on higher nanofiller loadings. The conductivity rises monotonically between 25 and 400°C, consistent with thermally activated transport across graphene–matrix junctions. Thermal diffusivity and conductivity increase with graphene content but decrease with temperature for all compositions. The cubic gyroids exhibit higher compressive strength than their cylindrical counterparts at higher graphene content (>0.1 wt.%). Overall, this approach offers a scalable route to multifunctional ceramics suitable for high-temperature sensors, microheaters, EMI shielding, heat spreaders/exchangers, and energy or chemical reactor scaffolds.