Outstanding electromagnetic interference shielding of bamboo fiber/carbon nanotubes/polylactic acid composites with biodegradability and corrosion resistance

Abstract

To cope with the increasing electromagnetic waves and environmental pollution, it is imperative for exploring environmentally friendly electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials with prime shielding effectiveness (SE). In this study, a biodegradable bamboo fiber/carbon nanotubes/polylactic acid (BF/CNTs/PLA) composite with abundant pore structures were successfully produced by mixing, melting and hot-pressing approach by utilizing hydrophobically treated bamboo fiber (BF), carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with efficient electrical conductivity and biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) with exceptional thermal stability. Specially, with the addition of 12 wt% CNTs, the BF/CNTs/PLA composite displayed excellent EMI SE of 47.7 dB at X-band due to the uniform dispersion of conductive CNTs in consecutive BF/PLA composite. In addition, the value of SEA/SET was 79.9 %, illustrating absorption was the primary shielding mechanism. what’s more, BF/CNTs/PLA presented superior thermal stability and EMI SE of 89.7 %, 84.5 %, and 81.3 % after immersion of BF/CNTs/PLA in HCl, NaCl, and NaOH solution, respectively, demonstrating its prime corrosion resistance. Therefore, BF/CNTs/PLA composites have enormous application potential in the field of high-temperature resistance, biodegradability, and biomass based electromagnetic shielding materials.