Mussel-inspired polydopamine coated hollow carbon microspheres, a novel versatile filler for fabrication of high performance syntactic foams

Syntactic foams, which can be synthesized by mechanical mixing of hollow microspheres with a matrix material, are a special class of lightweight composite materials. Developing of high-performance syntactic foams remains challenges. In this work, a facile and environmentally friendly surface modification method employing polydopamine (PDA) as a surface treatment agent for hollow carbon microspheres (HCMs) was used, aiming to extend the application of syntactic foams to seldom touched areas. The PDA coating was used as a strategy for interfacial interaction enhancement and also as a platform for further metal coating meant for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. The stronger interfacial interaction between microspheres and polymer matrix provided effective interfacial stress transfer, as a result of the syntactic foams with high strength to weight ratio. Furthermore, the PDA coating on HCMs served as a versatile platform for the growth of noble metals on the surface of PDA-HCMs. Silver nanoparticles was grown by PDA medium. The silver coated HCMs (Ag-PDA-HCMs) impacted the complex permittivity of the syntactic foams leading to high EMI shielding effectiveness (SE). The specific EMI SE reached up to 46.3 dB·cm³/g, demonstrated the Ag-PDA-HCMs/epoxy syntactic foam as a promising candidate for lightweight high-performance EMI shielding material.