Flexible Ti3C2Tx/(Aramid Nanofiber/PVA) Composite Films for Superior Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

• Published in: Research (Washington) Vol. 2022
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yali, Ma, Zhonglei, Ruan, Kunpeng, Gu, Junwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: AAAS 02.02.2022; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• ISSN: 2639-5274
• DOI: 10.34133/2022/9780290

Multifunctional electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials would solve electromagnetic radiation and pollution problems from electronic devices. Herein, the directional freeze-drying technology is utilized to prepare the aramid nanofiber/polyvinyl alcohol aerogel with a directionally porous structure (D-ANF/PVA), and the Ti 3 C 2 T x dispersion is fully immersed into the D-ANF/PVA aerogel via ultrasonication and vacuum-assisted impregnation. Ti 3 C 2 T x /(ANF/PVA) EMI shielding composite films with directionally ordered structure (D-Ti 3 C 2 T x /(ANF/PVA)) are then prepared by freeze-drying and hot pressing. Constructing a directionally porous structure enables the highly conductive Ti 3 C 2 T x nanosheets to be wrapped on the directionally porous D-ANF/PVA framework in order arrangement and overlapped with each other. And the hot pressing process effectively reduces the layer spacing between the stacked wavy D-ANF/PVA, to form a large number of Ti 3 C 2 T x -Ti 3 C 2 T x continuous conductive paths, which significantly improves the conductivity of the D-Ti 3 C 2 T x /(ANF/PVA) EMI shielding composite film. When the amount of Ti 3 C 2 T x is 80 wt%, the EMI shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) and specific SE (SSE/ t ) of D-Ti 3 C 2 T x /(ANF/PVA) EMI shielding composite film achieve 70 dB and 13790 dB·cm 2 ·g −1 (thickness and density of 120  μ m and 0.423 g·cm −3 ), far superior to random-structured Ti 3 C 2 T x /(ANF/PVA) (R-Ti 3 C 2 T x /(ANF/PVA)) composite film (46 dB and 9062 dB·cm 2 ·g −1 , respectively) via blending-freeze-drying followed by hot pressing technology. Meanwhile, the D-Ti 3 C 2 T x /(ANF/PVA) EMI shielding composite film possesses excellent flexibility and foldability.