Issue 20, 2022

‘Template-free’ synthesis of self-assembled micro-spikes resulting in ‘sea-urchin’-like carbon structures for suppressing electromagnetic radiation

Abstract

We report the facile ‘template-free’ synthesis of self-assembled ‘micro-spikes’, resulting in sea-urchin-like carbon structures that can suppress incoming electromagnetic (EM) radiation, which may not be achievable with conventional flake-type dispersed composites. Herein, we synthesized ‘carbon-urchins’ (C-urchins) from the self-assembly of short carbon fibers (CFs) via a facile one-pot synthesis method and then incorporated them into an epoxy matrix to obtain high-performance EMI shielding materials. To gain mechanistic insight, the C-urchins were doped with different dopants, such as magnetic nano-Fe3O4 (C-F urchins), conducting nano-Ag particles (C-A urchins), and dielectric nano-SiO2 (C-S urchins), to evaluate the influence of the dopant on the EMI shielding performance. Interestingly, all three doped C-urchin types in an epoxy matrix showed excellent absorption-dominated shielding (>99%) in the K-band region, with shielding effectiveness (SET) of up to −32 dB. The spatial distribution of the C-urchins was controlled in the epoxy composites to achieve the highest SET values for the prepared composites. The thermal properties of the composites were similar to those of neat epoxy; however, the storage modulus was enhanced in the composites. To this end, while high loading of conducting filler is required to meet commercial standards, resulting in processing difficulties, C-urchin-filled composites can open up new avenues in this field. The micro-spikes of the C-urchins can scatter/absorb incoming EM radiation through coupling with the fields.

Graphical abstract: ‘Template-free’ synthesis of self-assembled micro-spikes resulting in ‘sea-urchin’-like carbon structures for suppressing electromagnetic radiation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Jun 2022
Accepted
23 Jul 2022
First published
02 Aug 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Mater. Adv., 2022,3, 7618-7631

‘Template-free’ synthesis of self-assembled micro-spikes resulting in ‘sea-urchin’-like carbon structures for suppressing electromagnetic radiation

V. M. P., K. Sushmita, K. M. K. and S. Bose, Mater. Adv., 2022, 3, 7618 DOI: 10.1039/D2MA00715K

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