A lightweight and conductive MXene/graphene hybrid foam for superior electromagnetic interference shielding

Three-dimensional (3D) structure graphene with lightweight and excellent electrical conductivity is a high-efficiency electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding material that can be used to manage increasingly electromagnetic pollution. However, inferior electrical conductivity of the 3D graphene fabricated with graphene oxide (GO) as a precursor severely restrict its EMI shielding performance from meeting the needs of further applications. Herein, we developed a simple and feasible strategy to introduce highly conductive two-dimensional Ti₃C₂T_x MXene nanosheets into GO, and then fabricated a lightweight MXene/graphene hybrid foam (MX-rGO) by freeze-drying and reduction heat treatment. The improved foam electrical conductivity and highly efficient wave attenuation in interconnected porous structures enables MX-rGO with an excellent EMI shielding effectiveness (50.7 dB). In addition, the specific EMI shielding effectiveness (SSE, defined as shielding effectiveness divided by density) value of the MX-rGO can reach up to 6217 cm³ g⁻¹ at a lower thickness, which is much higher than most of the EMI shielding materials reported thus far. Therefore, the lightweight and conductive MXene/graphene hybrid foam with superior EMI shielding performance has potential applications for the aerospace and next-generation smart devices.