TY - JOUR AU - Lee, Jong‑Hoon AU - Kim, Yoon‑Sub AU - Ru, Hea‑Jin AU - Lee, Seul‑Yi AU - Park, Soo‑Jin PY - 2022/09/17 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Highly Flexible Fabrics/Epoxy Composites with Hybrid Carbon Nanofillers for Absorption-Dominated Electromagnetic Interference Shielding JF - Nano-Micro Letters JA - Nano-Micro Lett VL - 14 IS - SE - Articles DO - 10.1007/s40820-022-00926-1 UR - https://nmlett.org/index.php/nml/article/view/1183 SP - 188 AB - <p>Epoxy-based nanocomposites can be ideal electromagnetic interference (EMI)-shielding materials owing to their lightness, chemical inertness, and mechanical durability. However, poor conductivity and brittleness of the epoxy resin are challenges for fast-growing portable and flexible EMI-shielding applications, such as smart wristband, medical cloth, aerospace, and military equipment. In this study, we explored hybrid nanofillers of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT)/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as conductive inks and polyester fabrics (PFs) as a substrate for flexible EMI-shielding composites. The highest electrical conductivity and fracture toughness of the SWCNT/rGO/PF/epoxy composites were 30.2&nbsp;S&nbsp;m<sup>−1</sup> and 38.5&nbsp;MPa&nbsp;m<sup>1/2</sup>, which are ~ 270 and 65% enhancement over those of the composites without SWCNTs, respectively. Excellent mechanical durability was demonstrated by stable electrical conductivity retention during 1000 cycles of bending test. An EMI-shielding effectiveness of ~ 41&nbsp;dB in the X-band frequency of 8.2–12.4&nbsp;GHz with a thickness of 0.6&nbsp;mm was obtained with an EM absorption-dominant behavior over a 0.7 absorption coefficient. These results are attributed to the hierarchical architecture of the macroscale PF skeleton and nanoscale SWCNT/rGO networks, leading to superior EMI-shielding performance. We believe that this approach provides highly flexible and robust EMI-shielding composites for next-generation wearable electronic devices.</p><p>Highlights:</p><p>1 Highly flexible carbon ink-loaded polyester fabric/epoxy composites with outstanding mechanical durability and absorption-dominant EMI-shielding characteristics are fabricated.<br>2 The fracture toughness is ~ 38.5 MPa m<sup>1/2</sup> and electrical conductivity is maintained after 1000 bending cycles.<br>3 A superior electromagnetic interference SE/t of ~ 66.8 dB mm<sup>–1</sup> was observed in the X-band frequency with over 0.7 absorption coefficient, related to the hierarchical structures composed of macro-scaled voids from the polyester nonwoven fabric skeleton and nano-scaled networks from SWCNTs/rGO.</p> ER -