Construction of core-shell structured SiC nanowires@carbon nanotubes hybrid conductive network for supercapacitors and electromagnetic interference shielding

Since the swift progress of current intelligent devices, supercapacitors with effective electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding ability are attractive for the modern electronics industry. Herein, we proposed a core-shell structure design strategy to construct hybrid conductive network with multistage heterogeneous interfaces. The SiC nanowires (NWs) were deposited in situ on the carbon fabric with robust bonding, which were covered by highly conductive carbon nanotubes (CNTs), constructing an interconnected core-shell structured SiCNWs@CNTs with large specific surface area. Obviously, CNTs significantly enhanced the conductivity and electroactive surface area of the SiCNWs, which ensured that the obtained SiCNWs@CNTs electrode exhibited a high areal capacitance of 53.53 mF/cm² at 0.2 mA/cm². Meanwhile, the stable multistage structure with strong interface bonding conveyed excellent cycle stability (107.1 % capacitance retention after 5000 cycles at 10 mA/cm²). Moreover, due to the synergistic effect between SiCNWs and CNTs, the multistage heterogeneous structure with high conductivity and abundant interfaces enhanced the conductive and polarization loss. The integrated electrode possessed excellent EMI shielding performance of 47.99 dB in frequencies of 8.2–12.4 GHz. This research expands the horizons of the search for superior supercapacitors and EMI shielding performance, which will further benefit the advancement of SiCNWs-based composites for superior electronic devices.