Electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of reinforced composite with graphene oxide-lead oxide hybrid nanosheets

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe rapid development of telecommunication devices and related technologies improved the distribution of electromagnetic (EM) waves within the environment, which can adversely affect the performance of electronic systems and put the life of living species in serious danger; thus, practical alternatives are required to protect vulnerable sources from them. To address this demand, we developed reinforced composites with graphene oxide (GO)-lead oxide (GO-Pb3O4) hybrid 2D nanosheets at diverse filler loadings by employing the vacuum shock technique. Next, the developed fillers and composites were well characterized by the diverse analysis methods and their electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) was evaluated and compared with their X-ray shielding performance. The obtained results showed that the developed composites can perfectly attenuate X-ray waves and weaken the total power of applied EM waves (in X-band frequency (8.2–12.4 GHz)) more than 50%. In this regard, a 6 mm thick specimen containing 10 wt% GO-Pb3O4 attenuated emitted X-ray waves equal to 4.06, 4.83 and 3.91 mmAl at 40, 60 and 80 kVp energies, which shows about 124%, 124% and 121% increase, respectively, in the X-ray attenuation compared with neat epoxy resin. These results indicated that developed composites are perfect candidates to protect vulnerable sources from diverse EM sources, and despite the insulative nature of the GO-Pb3O4, these hybrid nanosheets can act as a potential barrier against EM waves.