Recent Advances in Multifunctional Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Materials

Abstract

The widespread deployment of 5G and IoT technologies has led to increasingly complex electromagnetic environments that impose more higher performance requirements on shielding materials. This review critically evaluates the recent progress in electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials. Although traditional metal-based shielding materials exhibit excellent shielding performance, their practical applications are limited by inherent drawbacks including excessive weight, poor corrosion resistance, and weak processability, which has driven significant interest in conductive polymer composites (CPCs). Significant breakthroughs have been achieved in this field regarding the development of EMI shielding materials integrating additional functionalities such as thermal regulation, electrothermal response, fire safety, and self-healing capability. Notably, the emergence of stimuli-responsive smart shielding materials with dynamically tunable performance marks a significant advancement in this field, enabling real-time adaptation to complex electromagnetic environments. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of five types of multifunctional shielding materials through systematic analysis of functional integration strategies, while identifying the critical challenges and future opportunities in this area.