Boron carbide composites with highly aligned graphene nanoplatelets: light-weight and efficient electromagnetic interference shielding materials at high temperatures

Multifunctional Hierarchical Metamaterial for Thermal Insulation and Electromagnetic Interference Shielding at Elevated Temperatures

The custom design of lightweight cellular materials is widely concerned due to effectively improved mechanical properties and functional applications. However, the strength attenuation and brittleness behavior hinder honeycomb structure design for the ceramic monolith. Herein, the ceramic matrix composite metamaterial (CCM) with a negative Poisson's ratio and high specific strength, exhibiting superelasticity, stability, and high compressive strength, is customized by combining centripetal freeze-casting and hierarchical structures. CCM maintains a negative Poisson's ratio response under compression with the lowest value reaching -0.16, and the relationship between CCM's specific modulus and density is E ∼ ρ^1.3, which indicates the mechanical metamaterial characteristic of high specific strength. In addition to the extraordinary mechanical performance endowed by hierarchical structures, the CCM exhibits excellent thermal insulation and electromagnetic interference shielding properties, in which the thermal conductivity is 30.62 mW·m^-1·K^-1 and the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding efficiency (SE) reaches 40 dB at room temperature. The specific EMI shielding efficiency divided by thickness (SSE/t) of CCM can reach 9416 dB·cm²·g^-1 at 700 °C due to its stability at elevated temperatures, which is 100 times higher than that of traditional ceramic matrix composites. Moreover, the designed hierarchical structure and metamaterial properties provide a potential scheme to implement cellular materials with collaborative optimization in structure and function.

Applications of Ceramic/Graphene Composites and Hybrids

Research activity on ceramic/graphene composites and hybrids has increased dramatically in the last decade. In this review, we provide an overview of recent contributions involving ceramics, graphene, and graphene-related materials (GRM, i.e., graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, and graphene nanoplatelets) with a primary focus on applications. We have adopted a broad scope of the term ceramics, therefore including some applications of GRM with certain metal oxides and cement-based matrices in the review. Applications of ceramic/graphene hybrids and composites cover many different areas, in particular, energy production and storage (batteries, supercapacitors, solar and fuel cells), energy harvesting, sensors and biosensors, electromagnetic interference shielding, biomaterials, thermal management (heat dissipation and heat conduction functions), engineering components, catalysts, etc. A section on ceramic/GRM composites processed by additive manufacturing methods is included due to their industrial potential and waste reduction capability. All these applications of ceramic/graphene composites and hybrids are listed and mentioned in the present review, ending with the authors' outlook of those that seem most promising, based on the research efforts carried out in this field.

Metal carbide/Ni hybrids for high-performance electromagnetic absorption and absorption-based electromagnetic interference shielding

Metal carbide/Ni hybrid nanostructures are designed to realize electromagnetic absorption and absorption-based electromagnetic interference shielding (EIS). An EIS effectiveness larger than 60 dB is achieved with an absorption contribution of 98.9%.

A new way for lead-boron resin composite modification: SiO2 coated lead powders by a sol-gel method

In order to improve the composition distribution and flame retardancy of composites, the effects of silicon dioxide (SiO2) coatings with different contents on physical properties of lead (Pb) powders and composites were investigated in this research. SiO2 coated Pb powders (SiO2@Pb) with contents of 0, 0.237, 0.486, 0.683, 0.967 wt% were synthesized by a sol-gel method, then mixed with boron carbide (B4C) powders and boron phenolic resins (BPRs) to prepare SiO2@Pb/B4C/BPRs composites by molding. SiO2 coating on the surface of Pb powders in flakes or islands increases the specific surface area and oxidation temperature of the SiO2@Pb powders. For the SiO2@Pb/B4C/BPRs composites, the composition uniformity of composites is improved due to the reduction of the true density difference value between fillers (Pb, B4C), which is beneficial for the physical properties of the composites. Furthermore, the mechanical properties and thermal conductivity increase with the addition of SiO2 content, achieving a maximum value at 0.237 wt%, and then decrease gradually with a further increase of SiO2 content. Moreover, SiO2 coatings improve the limit oxygen index (LOI) of the composites and reduce the cracks of composites after burning. Composites with the SiO2 content of 0.486 wt% have optimal comprehensive physical properties, where the tensile strength, bending strength, impact toughness are 42.5 MPa, 72.4 MPa, 6.5 kJ m-2, respectively and the LOI is 41.8%.