Ultrathin and Highly Flexible Layered Silver Nanowires/Carboxymethyl Cellulose Nanofiber Nanocomposite Films for Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

Abstract

The development of electronic information technology has led to an increasingly serious problem of electromagnetic radiation pollution. It is urgent to explore a lightweight, flexible, and easy to manufacture electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding material. In this study, we employed one-dimensional carboxymethyl cellulose nanofibers (CMCs) and silver nanowires (AgNWs) to fabricate a silver nanowire/carboxymethyl cellulose nanofiber (AgNWs/CMC) nanocomposite film with a layered structure through a one-step vacuum filtration self-assembly technique. The results indicate that the unique layered structure of AgNWs/CMC nanocomposite film significantly increases the conductive pathway in the film, which endows the AgNWs/CMC nanocomposite film with significant EMI shielding performance, reaching 87.7dB in the X-band with a thickness of only 20 μm and achieving effective shielding of electromagnetic signals in mobile communication. In addition, AgNWs/CMCs nanocomposite films exhibit excellent Joule heating, heat dissipation, and photothermal conversion performance. Therefore, this layered AgNWs/CMCs nanocomposite film is expected to broaden new application fields, such as wearable heating devices, flexible electronic devices, and other new applications.

Keywords: Silver nanowire, Carboxymethyl cellulose nanofiber, Layered structure, Electromagnetic interference shielding