Facile construction of flexible multilayered graphene-based composite films for excellent electromagnetic interference shielding with ultralow-reflection

Abstract

Precisely tailored green electromagnetic interference shielding materials with absorption-dominated ultrahigh shielding performance are highly desired, but they have been constantly challenged by the conflict between superb shielding efficiency, ultralow reflection loss, and low thickness. In this work, the compatibility of excellent shielding capability, imperceptible reflection, and low thickness is successfully achieved in a flexible graphene-based film by simply integrating out a foam-like graphene network on fabric skeleton (RGO@F) as a surface wave trapping layer of graphene film (GF). The composite films exhibit exceptional shielding performance of > 80 dB, minuscule reflection as low as 0.82 dB, and a thickness of merely 0.8 mm, which are superior to most literature reports and first achieved for film-based shields. The power coefficient of reflection (R) of RGO@F/GF is only 0.172, much lower than that of original GF (R > 0.992), manifesting the shielding mechanism of GF has been readily converted from reflection-dominated to absorption-dominated. Several proof-of-concept studies are given to demonstrate the broad generality of RGO@F to virtually any other reflection-dominated shielding material. This work represents a critical breakthrough in tailoring advanced green shielding materials and paves the way for facilely fabricating thin, absorption-dominated and ultra-strong performance shielding films from accessible common materials.