Liquid-templated graphene aerogel electromagnetic traps

Abstract

For decades, the inherently reflective nature of metallic electromagnetic (EM) shields and their induced secondary EM pollution have posed significant challenges for sensitive electronics. While numerous efforts have been made to develop superior EM shielding systems, the issue of reflection dominancy in metallic substrates remains unresolved. Herein, we addressed this long-lasting obstacle by pairing metallic shields with ultra-lightweight (density of 3.12–3.40 mg cm⁻³) elastic anti-reflection aerogels, altering their shielding mechanism from dominant reflection (reflectance >0.8) to absorption (absorbance >0.7) by trapping EM waves inside the aerogel. The aerogel EM traps were generated using interfacial complexation, yielding engineerable filamentous liquid structures. These served as templates for aerogel creation through a follow-up process of freezing and lyophilization. The engineerable lossy medium of aerogels benefits from a multi-scale porous construct with the combined action of dielectric and conduction losses, highly dissipating the EM waves and minimizing the reflections. Notably, declining the diameter of aerogel filaments promoted its absorption dominancy, rendering it a potent dissipating medium for EM waves. Pairing a metallic substrate with filamentous aerogel EM traps has resulted in an exceptionally effective absorption-dominant shielding system, achieving absorbance levels between 0.70–0.81. This system offers a shielding effectiveness of 53–89 dB within the X-band frequency range. This innovation addresses a persistent issue in shielding science related to the reflective characteristics of metallic substrates, effectively inhibiting their induced EM reflections.