Fabrication of very effective ferroferric oxide and multiwalled carbon nanotubes@polyetherimide/poly(ether ether ketone) electromagnetic interference shielding composites

This article reports fabrication of very efficient electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding composites prepared by melt blending of polyether‐ether ketone (PEEK), multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) covered with polyetherimide (PEI), and ferroferric oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ) nanoparticles as a matrix, dielectric and magnetic loss fillers, respectively. The surface of MWCNTs was modified with PEI to improve their dispersion in the PEEK matrix as well as interfacial adhesion. Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles were then deposited onto the surface of MWCNTs coated with PEI (MWCNTs@PEI). In this case, MWCNTs@PEI filler served as a carrier for Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles for their even dispersion in PEEK. Additionally, combination of Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles and MWCNTs@PEI (Fe 3 O 4 and MWCNTs@PEI) provided the resulting EMI materials with the enhanced electromagnetic absorption ability. This property was then utilized to fabricate PEEK‐based (Fe 3 O 4 and MWCNTs@PEI/PEEK) EMI shielding composites. Specific shielding effectiveness (SSE) of this composite was ~54.4 dB mm −1 in the X band (8.2‐12.4 GHz). Tensile strength and the temperature at 5% weight loss of this novel EMI shielding materials were 117 MPa and 600°C, respectively.