Excellent Electromagnetic Interference Shielding and High Electrical Conductivity of Compatibilized Polycarbonate/Polypropylene Carbon Nanotube Blend Nanocomposites

Herein, we have fabricated a series of immiscible blend nanocomposites based on polycarbonate/polypropylene (PC/PP) by uniformly dispersing multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via a melt mixing technique. The effect of polypropylene-grafted maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) as a compatibilizer has played a pivotal role in reducing the interfacial tension and thereby enhancing the attenuation performance of PC/PP blends. The substantial effect of compatibilization on the dispersion of MWCNTs has resulted in higher conductivity values of 0.33 S cm(-1), which is a major requirement for designing EM shields. Nevertheless, both the uncompatibilized and compatibilized blend nanocomposites have shown viscoelastic phase separation processes. The percolation networks of MWCNTs in compatibilized PC/PP blends were clearly observed using a high resolution transmission electron microscope. There was also a remarkable 5-fold decrease in the percolation threshold and 2.5 fold increase in total shielding effectiveness (54.78 dB) of compatibilized PC/PP blends when compared to that of immiscible PC/PP blends (22 dB).