Highly conductive graphitic films

A graphene platelet-filled composite film comprising a carbon or graphitic matrix as a continuous phase and from 1% to 70% weight fraction of graphene platelets dispersed in said matrix, wherein said graphene platelets are aligned along planar directions of said film and are selected from pristine graphene, oxidized graphene, reduced graphene oxide, fluorinated graphene, hydrogenated graphene, doped graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, or a combination thereof, and wherein said carbon or graphitic matrix is obtained by carbonizing a carbon precursor polymer at a carbonization temperature of at least 300° C. or by carbonizing and graphitizing said carbon precursor polymer at a final graphitization temperature higher than 1,500° C., wherein said carbon precursor polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyimide, polyamide, polyoxadiazole, polybenzoxazole, polybenzobisoxazole, polythiazole, polybenzothiazole, polybenzobisthiazole, poly(p-phenylene vinylene), polybenzimidazole, polybenzobisimidazole, and combinations thereof;

• and said carbon or graphitic matrix comprises graphene layers, derived from said carbon precursor polymer, that are substantially oriented parallel to one another with an inclination angle between two graphene layers less than 5 degrees.