Light weight multiwalled carbon nanotubes/carbon‐coated nickel/poly(ether‐ketone) nanohybrids for electromagnetic interference shielding applications

Abstract Light weight carbon‐coated nickel (CCNi)/poly(ether‐ketone) (PEK) nanocomposites reinforced with 0–3.87 vol% (or 5 wt%) multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been fabricated using high energy ball mill followed by hot pressing and evaluated for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness (SE) in the X‐band (8.2–12.4 GHz). The MWCNTs/CCNi/PEK nanohybrids show electrical conductivity and EMI‐SE one order of magnitude and 85% higher than those of nanocomposites without MWCNTs, respectively. Experimentally, it is found that absorption is the major shielding mechanism while reflection is secondary. Such an excellent EMI‐SE (i.e., 29.5 dB) value obtained at a very low density (~ 1.45 g/cm 3 ) makes the nanohybrids potential candidates for defense, space, and aerospace applications. Highlights Lightweight multifunctional advanced MWCNT/Ni@C/PEK nanohybrids were proposed. Nanohybrids containing MWCNT exhibited EMI‐SE 85% higher than those without MWCNT. Combined addition of Ni@C and MWCNT into PEK yielded synergetic improvement in electrical conductivity. Nanohybrids exhibited an EMI‐SE of about 29.5 dB, which is better than those reported in the literature.