Light Weight, Flexible and Ultrathin PTFE@Ag and Ni@PVDF Composite Film for High-Efficient Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

Dopamine was used to modify polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) in order to obtain functional polydopamine (PDA) surface-modified PTFE microporous film (PTFE@PDA). Ag was deposited on the surface of PTFE@PDA using electroless plating in order to obtain Ag-wrapped PTFE@PDA film (PTFE@Ag). A liquid-phase chemical reduction method was employed to prepare nickel nanochains. A Ni@PVDF cast film was obtained by mechanically blended nickel nanochains and polyimide (PVDF). The above two films were hot pressed to give a flexible, ultra-thin, and highly effective electromagnetic shielding composite film with a “3+2” layered structure. IR, XRD, and TEM results showed the PTFE@PDA film surface was coated by a tight plating layer of Ag particles with a particle size of 100~200 nm. PTFE@Ag+Ni@PVDF composite film exhibited excellent electromagnetic shielding effectiveness, with the conductivity of 7507.5 S/cm and the shielding effectiveness of 69.03 dB in the X-band range. After a 2000-cycle bending, this value still remained at 51.90 dB. Furthermore, the composite film presented excellent tensile strength of 62.1 MPa. It has great potential for applications in flexible and wearable intelligent devices.