Optimization of Electromagnetic-Wave Reflectivity Performance of Electromagnetic Shielding Yarn Prepared by Evaporation-Induced Sintering of Ga60.5In25Sn13Zn1.5 Alloy with Nanosilicates

Abstract

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding textiles have received widespread attention, and liquid metal (LM) shows superiority in flexible and deformable electronics. Here, we introduce a novel method using nanosilicates to help sinter LM through capillary evaporation, resulting in strong adhesion to substrates. By adjustment of the amount of nanosilicates, flexible EMI shielding yarns are created using dip-coating and curing processes. The sintered LM tightly adhered to the undulating and uneven surfaces of polyurethane (PU) yarns. The as-fabricated ION/LM@PU (“ION” is abbreviation of “ionogel”) has strong EMI shielding and low EM-wave reflection due to the high electrical conductivity of the LM layer and good impedance matching of P(AAm-co-AA) ionogel. The addition of an ionogel enhances EM-wave absorption and strengthens interfacial polarization, making it an effective green EMI shielding yarn for reducing secondary reflection pollution. ION/LM@PU exhibited high total electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE_T) (∼56 dB), low reflected power coefficient (R) (∼0.153), high impedance matching (|Z_in/Z₀| ≈ 0.660), high tensile strength (∼23.75 MPa), and high elastic recovery (∼0.92 at 10th stretch–release cycle). The EMI shielding mechanism of ION/LM@PU ± 60° is composed of reflective loss and absorption loss (including multireflective loss, conduction loss, dipole polarization loss, and interfacial polarization loss).