Recent Progress in the Application of Cellulose in Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Materials

Abstract

Excessive electromagnetic radiation produced by widely used electronic equipment not only harms human health but also affects the accuracy of precision instruments. To meet the growing demand for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials, various novel materials are investigated. As a natural biopolymer, cellulose possesses the merits of biodegradability, thermal stability, easy processability, and low cost. Owing to tremendous advantages, cellulose can be used as a substrate, binder, and derived carbon material for EMI shielding materials. Although many research papers on EMI shielding materials containing cellulose have been published, a detailed summary on them has not been acknowledged yet. Hence, this review is composed mainly to cover the structure and properties of cellulose, as well as electromagnetic shielding theory, which are explained in detail by using various research articles, review papers, and book chapters. And the recent applications of cellulose in EMI shielding materials are highlighted. It is hoped that the information gathered from previous studies can provide a reference for the fabrication of cellulose composites with higher EMI shielding performance in future research.

Research Progress with Membrane Shielding Materials for Electromagnetic/Radiation Contamination

“…However, numerous reported membranes shielding materials were based on non-renewable polymers [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ], which is inconsistent with the concept of green chemistry and sustainable development. Therefore, some biopolymers have attracted the attention of researchers [ 54 , 155 ]. As the most abundant renewable polymer on earth, cellulose is widely used in various fields because of its excellent characteristics, including low production cost, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and being light in weight [ 156 ].…”

“…In view of the increasingly serious electromagnetic/radiation pollution, the research, development, and application of membrane shielding materials have garnered significant attention in various fields. Electromagnetic/radiation shielding materials refer to materials that attenuate electromagnetic waves through reflection, multiple reflection, and absorption, and cut off or reduce the transmission of electromagnetic/radiation waves [ 54 ]. Their mechanism of action was different from that of wave absorbing materials [ 54 ].…”

“…However, with the rapid pace of technological development, the above-mentioned membrane shielding materials can no longer meet the problem of electromagnetic/radiation pollution caused by many types of modern technological devices. Therefore, more researchers have devoted themselves to the exploration of membrane shielding materials to protect humans and their environment, and these efforts have expanded to the preparation of many new membrane-based shielding materials, such as the use of 3D printing design [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ], as well as the development of MXene-based [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ], carbon-based [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], iron-based [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ], cellulose-based [ 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ], and lead-free materials [ 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. The traditional electromagnetic/radiation shielding method was to directly blend conductive fillers to improve the shielding performance [ 61 ], especially in the field of electromagnetic radiation shielding.…”

“…Compared with traditional concrete and heavy metal shielding materials, composite polymer-based materials in which a polymer comprises the matrix and nanomaterials are introduced as fillers that have the advantages of easy molding, light in weight, relatively inexpensive, etc., and thus these materials are promising candidates for applications in aerospace, nuclear power plants, and medical devices [ 63 , 64 , 65 ]. Most polymer substrates are polymers, such as polyurethane [ 66 , 67 ] and nanofibers [ 54 , 68 , 69 , 70 ]. Nanofillers include composite shielding materials such as metal-based materials [ 71 , 72 ], MXene-based materials [ 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 ], carbon-based materials [ 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 ], and so forth.…”

Carbon nanotubes/cellulose composite aerogels with controllable microstructure for electromagnetic interference shielding

“…Because of the above problems, cellulose aerogels have received great attention from researchers. [28][29][30][31][32] On the one hand, cellulose has the advantages of being renewable, reusable and rich in nature, on the other hand, cellulose aerogels are featured with controllable microstructure, which is used to study the effect of the electromagnetic shielding performance. Therefore, cellulose aerogels are an ideal candidate for constructing electromagnetic shielding materials.…”