Influence of interfacial aspects on electromagnetic interference shielding performance of graphene reinforced nanocomposites: an overview

Electromagnetic waves interference to electronic equipment, environment, and human health has led to the development of radiation shielding materials. Graphene is a unique one atom thick two-dimensional nanostructure. Graphene own outstanding properties (transparency, electron mobility, thermal stability, thermal conductivity, and mechanical robustness) to form the polymeric nanocomposites. The polymer/graphene nano-architectures have been fabricated with superior surface area, flexibility, electrical conductivity, permeability, permittivity, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding properties. This is an all-inclusive and up-to-date review on the polymer/graphene nanocomposites portraying essential aspects of the properties, potential, and role of the interface in enhancing the radiation protection. In this regard, thermosetting, conducting, and thermoplastic polymers have been employed with graphene. The major factor in improving the EMI shielding performance has been identified as the strong polymer/graphene interface. Consequently, the influence of the graphene nanofiller has been studied for the matrices such as epoxy, polyaniline, polypyrrole, polythiophene, poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(vinyledene fluoride), etc. In this regard, the strong interface formation through the covalent, electrostatic, or π–π interactions in the matrix-nanofiller and superior graphene dispersion in polymers have been observed. Subsequently, the strong interface yielded low percolation threshold and highly electrically conducting nanocomposites to efficiently shield the underlying materials from the electromagnetic field. The interface effect has been observed through microwave absorption in the high-frequency regions ranging from 5 Hz to 2 THz. Moreover, the polymer/graphene nanocomposites revealed significantly high EMI shielding efficiency in the range of 20 dB to 3 × 105 dB, due to strong interface influence.