Controlled Distributed Ti3C2Tx Hollow Microspheres on Thermally Conductive Polyimide Composite Films for Excellent Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

Abstract

Flexible multifunctional polymer-based electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding composite films have important applications in the fields of 5G communication technology, wearable electronic devices, and artificial intelligence. Based on the design of a porous/multilayered structure and using polyimide (PI) as the matrix and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) microspheres as the template, flexible (Fe₃O₄/PI)–Ti₃C₂T_x–(Fe₃O₄/PI) composite films with controllable pore sizes and distribution of Ti₃C₂T_x hollow microspheres are successfully prepared by sacrificial template method. Owing to the porous/multilayered structure, when the pore size of the Ti₃C₂T_x hollow microspheres is 10 µm and the mass ratio of PMMA/Ti₃C₂T_x is 2:1, the (Fe₃O₄/PI)–Ti₃C₂T_x–(Fe₃O₄/PI) composite film has the most excellent EMI shielding performance, with EMI shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) of 85 dB. It is further verified by finite element simulation that the composite film has an excellent shielding effect on electromagnetic waves. In addition, the composite film has good thermal conductivity (thermal conductivity coefficient of 3.49 W (m·K)⁻¹) and mechanical properties (tensile strength of 65.3 MPa). This flexible (Fe₃O₄/PI)–Ti₃C₂T_x–(Fe₃O₄/PI) composite film with excellent EMI shielding performance, thermal conductivity, and mechanical properties has demonstrated great potential for applications in EMI shielding protection for high-power, portable, and wearable flexible electronic devices.