Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) modified spongelike polypyrrole (PPy) aerogel for excellent electromagnetic absorption

Abstract

A self-assembled spongelike (S) ultralight (ρ ≈ 140 mg cm⁻³) aerogel was fabricated through polypyrrole (PPy) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO). First, the dispersed graphene oxide (GO) was locked homogeneously in those chains formed by the gelation of PPy. Then, a hydrothermal process was employed to reduce GO to RGO. With a trace content of RGO (0.43 wt% in aerogel), the electromagnetic absorption (EA) performance had been significantly improved. Only with a very low filler loading (10 wt%), the S-PPy/RGO aerogel based composite could reach an effective EA bandwidth (below −10 dB) of 6.76 GHz, and the highest reflection coefficient reached −54.4 dB at 12.76 GHz. It was demonstrated that this aerogel material can be considered as an effective route to design a lightweight and high performance EA material. Furthermore, the S-PPy/RGO aerogel also showed a suitable pollution treatment performance with different solvents and dyes.