Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.56, No.30, 8553-8562, 2017
Collagen Fiber Membrane as an Absorptive Substrate To Coat with Carbon Nanotubes-Encapsulated Metal Nanoparticles for Lightweight, Wearable, and Absorption-Dominated Shielding Membrane
A lightweight, wearable, and high-performance electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding membrane was prepared by using collagen fiber membrane (CFM) as microwave absorptive substrate and multiple wall carbon nanotubes-encapsulated metal nanoparticles (MNPs@ MWCNTs) as efficient microwave absorbers coated on CFM. CFM is able to consume microwaves via dielectric loss, in addition to its the role as a supporting matrix. Encapsulating of metal nanoparticles (MNPs) enhances the dissipation capability of MWCNTs and also improves the stability of encapsulated MNPs. A cooperative shielding mechanism between CFM and MNPs@MWCNTs is responsible for the absorption-dominated shielding performance. The as-prepared MNPs@MWCNTs/CFM composite membrane exhibited a high shielding effectiveness (SE) of 30-60 dB with 4.0 wt % of MNPs@MWCNTs in a wide frequency range of 0.5-12.0 GHz, and the specific SE was high, up to 162 dB cm(-3) g(-1). The MNPs@MWCNTs/CFM membrane also is lightweight and features good flexibility and wearability. This work provides a novel strategy for designing lightweight and high-performance shielding membranes.