Interfacial-Engineered Carbon-Based Composite Fiber Paper Enabled High Strength and High Conductivity

Abstract

Carbon fiber papers (CFPs) with high electrical conductivity have recently received considerable attention in related apparatus; however, there is still limited research on their poor mechanical strength under the multifield coupling case. In this work, we reported a hard crystal network-assisted interfacial engineering strategy to partially reinforce the conductive carbon fiber skeleton with polyethylene glycol terephthalate (PET) fibers. The rigid connections, introduced by the cold crystallization of melting PET fibers, can physically lock up the carbon fibers while effectively maintaining an in situ carbon fiber lap point, avoiding electric transmission obstacles. The optimized CFPs exhibit comprehensive performance advantages, with a fracture strength of 33.7 MPa and an electrical conductivity of 64.1 S m^–1. The CF/PET composite paper also demonstrates satisfactory electrical heating performance and excellent electromagnetic shielding capabilities, underscoring the considerable potential of CFPs for a wide range of applications.