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

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)C2T(x) dispersion is fully immersed into the D-ANF/PVA aerogel via ultrasonication and vacuum-assisted impregnation. Ti(3)C2T(x)/(ANF/PVA) EMI shielding composite films with directionally ordered structure (D-Ti3C2Tx/(ANF/PVA)) are then prepared by freeze-drying and hot pressing. Constructing a directionally porous structure enables the highly conductive Ti3C2Tx 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 Ti3C2Tx-Ti3C2Tx continuous conductive paths, which significantly improves the conductivity of the D-Ti3C2Tx/(ANF/PVA) EMI shielding composite film. When the amount of Ti3C2Tx is 80 wt%, the EMI shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) and specific SE (SSE/t) of D-Ti3C2Tx/(ANF/PVA) EMI shielding composite film achieve 70 dB and 13790 dB.cm(2).g(-)1 (thickness and density of 120 mu m and 0.423 g.cm(-3)), far superior to random-structured Ti3C2Tx/(ANF/PVA) (R-Ti3C2Tx/(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 DTi3C2Tx/(ANF/PVA) EMI shielding composite film possesses excellent flexibility and foldability.

Automated summary

In this study, a directional freeze-drying technology was used to prepare an aramid nanofiber/polyvinyl alcohol aerogel, which was then impregnated with Ti(3) C2T(x) dispersion and hot pressed to obtain a Ti(3) C2T(x)/(ANF/PVA) EMI shielding composite film with a directionally ordered structure. The composite film exhibited excellent shielding effectiveness and conductivity.