Electromagnetic interference shielding of layered linen fabric/polypyrrole/nickel (LF/PPy/Ni) composites

In this paper, layered linen fabric/polypyrrole/nickel (LF/PPy/Ni) composites were successfully fabricated by combining a chemical in-situ polymerization approach with an electroless plating method. Owing to the multiple characteristics of both wave-absorption and wave-reflection, the resultant composites showed great potential as electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding material to realize electromagnetic compatibility. Various experimental conditions including initiator concentration, polymerization time and synthesis cycles were optimized in the in-situ doping polymerization process. Under the optimized conditions, the coating amount of PPy was adequate for generating the inter-fiber connection. Afterwards, Ni layer was deposited on the as-made PPy coated LF (LF/PPy). X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the Ni layer had a characteristic face-centered cubic (FCC) crystalline structure. Vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) analysis revealed that the resultant LF/PPy/Ni composites exhibited strong magnetic properties. Furthermore, comparative study of shielding effectiveness (SE) among nickel plated LF (LF/Ni), LF/PPy and LF/PPy/Ni was conducted by using a Spectrum analyzer at a frequency range of 30 to 1000 MHz. The result indicated that the highest SE was obtained in the LF/PPy/Ni sample, which had already achieved civilian product standard. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.