High strength, flexible, and conductive graphene/polypropylene fiber paper fabricated via papermaking process

Graphene paper with good mechanical strength, flexibility, and high conductivity is an emerging functional material for wide applications, but its feasible and scalable preparation remains a challenge. Herein, a high strength, flexible, and conductive graphene/polypropylene (PP) fiber paper was prepared by a traditional papermaking process. In the composite paper, graphene nanosheets were well stabilized on the PP fibers forming a stable three-dimensional conductive interleaved network. Chitosan was found able to build a polar active interface on PP fibers and graphene nanosheets, which can not only promote PP fiber dispersion in water yielding a uniform pulp, but also favor the retention of graphene in the composite paper. As a result, the composite paper presents high strength (15.32 MPa), good conductivity (11,995 S/m), shielding effectiveness (31.1 dB), water resistance, fungi-proof, and thermal conductivity (10.17 W m−1 k−1) properties. This work demonstrates the feasibility of large-scale preparation of graphene composite paper with commercial synthetic fibers through a traditional papermaking process, and expands the potential industrial application of graphene materials. Graphene/chitosan co-aggregates were absorbed on the surface of graphene/chitosan/PP fiber under the electrostatic interaction of CPAM to form graphene/PP fiber.