Asymmetric sandwiched nanofibrillated cellulose composites prepared by one-pot vacuum filtration for ultrahigh electromagnetic interference shielding

Abstract

High-efficiency electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding composite films (EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) value > 100 dB) with a small thickness are imminently desired for eliminating the serious electromagnetic wave pollution. Herein, asymmetric sandwiched silver-coated four-needle zinc oxide whisker/nanofibrillated cellulose/Ti3C2Tx (F-ZnO&Ag/NFC/Ti3C2Tx) composite films consisting of the loose F-ZnO&Ag sedimentary layer and compact upper Ti3C2Tx layer were successful fabricated by a facile one-pot vacuum filtration method in combination with gravity-induced delamination. Arising from the favorable electrical conductivity and unique asymmetric sandwich structure, electromagnetic waves can be trapped and dissipated in the F-ZnO&Ag skeletons and strongly multiply reflected between top Ti3C2Tx layer and bottom F-ZnO&Ag layers. Thereby, F-ZnO&Ag/NFC/Ti3C2Tx-30.4 exhibits the ultrahigh averaged EMI SET of 103.9 dB (the maximal value of 123.8 dB) at a low thickness of merely 209 μm, which is far superior to that of almost all the reported NFC composites at the similar thickness to date. In the real EMI shielding application test, composite films are confirmed to block signal transmission and switch off the toy car system. Such simple and high-efficiency asymmetric sandwich structure design makes a great progress towards preparing and adjusting thin EMI shielding composite films for the promising application prospects in advanced electronics and communication technology.