Polyimide matrix composite film with excellent mechanical and EMI shielding performance

Polymer-matrix composites have recently been employed for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials for lightweight and flexibility. However, traditional polymer-matrix composites with high filler loadings often fail to possess both excellent mechanical and EMI shielding performance. In this work, a flexible and lightweight nickel oxide/polyimide/carbon nanotubes (NiO/PI/CNT) composite film with superior mechanical strength and outstanding EMI shielding properties was fabricated by electrospinning, vacuum-filtrating and coating methods. The composite film exhibited good mechanical performance, whose tensile strength was 43.2 MPa. Furthermore, the composite film achieved an excellent EMI shielding effectiveness of 89.96 dB in the X-band (8.2–12.4 GHz) with high absorption shielding effectiveness (SE_A). Therefore, the NiO/PI/CNT composite film has a potential application for flexible electronics and aerospace fields.