Development of highly stable carbon nanotube incorporated polyvinyl alcohol composite films for EMI shielding applications

Rapid advancement in the usage of electronic devices in recent years underlines the necessity for the fabrication of highly efficient electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials. The present work reports development of an EMI shielding material prepared by combining into a single whole, an environmental friendly polymer-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and highly conducting filler-mutiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). These flexible PVA/MWCNT composite films are fabricated via solution casting method. The surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate has ensured the uniform dispersion of filler which is confirmed by FE-SEM analysis. Interestingly, the surfactant all by itself is found to reduce the OH content and is verified through FTIR. The electrical conductivity of the sample is optimized by varying parameters. Thus, we have achieved a highly conducting composite film with a good EMI shielding effectiveness of ~ 20 dB without using cross linking agents and yet reducing the OH content thereby making the material a stable one.