Lightweight multi-walled carbon nanotube buckypaper/glass fiber–epoxy composites for strong electromagnetic interference shielding and efficient microwave absorption

Bruno Ribeiro,Newton Adriano Santos Gomes,Mirabel Cerqueira Rezende

doi:10.1007/s10854-021-06007-0

Abstract

Multi-walled carbon nanotube buckypaper (BP) reinforced glass fiber–epoxy (GF/EP) composites were selected to fabricate electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and microwave absorbing materials. Six different composite configurations with 3.0 mm thick have been conceived and tested over the X-band (8.2–12.4 GHz). Flexible and low-density (0.29 g/cm3) BP provided a high specific EMI SE of 76 dB with controlled electrical conductivity. GF/EP/BP111 and GF/EP/BP101 composites possess EMI SE as high as of 50–60 dB, which can be attributed to the number of BP inserted and variation in the wave-transmitting layer of the laminates. Furthermore, the shielding mechanism was discussed and suggested that the absorption was the dominant contribution to EMI SE. GF/EP/BP110 laminate demonstrated suitable EMI performance (~ 20 dB), whereas GF/EP/BP011 composite revealed excellent microwave performance, achieving an effective − 10 dB bandwidth of 3.04 GHz and minimum reflection loss (RL) value of − 21.16 dB at 10.37 GHz. On the basis of these results, GF/EP/BP composites prepared in this work have potential applications as both EMI shielding and microwave absorber materials given their facile preparation and lightweight use.

Highlights

Over the last years, the need for shields or absorber materials has been attracting more and more attention from both academic and industrial fields due to the substantial increase in the usage of electronic devices, that generate several forms of electronic pollutions, such as electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic interference (EMI), electronic noise, among others [1,2,3]
Novel EMI shielding materials are highly recommended, for better EMI shielding performance and for developing microwave absorbing materials that efficiently convert the EM radiation into thermal energy
Multi-walled carbon nanotube buckypaper was prepared by vacuum filtration showing great flexibility, low density (0.29 g/cm3), and adequate conductivity

Summary

Introduction

The need for shields or absorber materials has been attracting more and more attention from both academic and industrial fields due to the substantial increase in the usage of electronic devices, that generate several forms of electronic pollutions, such as electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic interference (EMI), electronic noise, among others [1,2,3]. The CNT film showed low density (0.76 g/cm3) and reached high levels of electrical conductivity (5000 S/m) with outstanding EMI SE performance of ~55 dB in X-band (8.2-12.4 GHz).

Results

Conclusion