Preparation of flexible EPDM rubber nanocomposites with enhanced electromagnetic shielding by combining pyrrole-modified MXene and copper nanowires

Abstract With the rapid development of electronic information technology, problems such as electromagnetic interference are becoming more and more serious, and the development of efficient electromagnetic shielding materials has become extremely important. This study has prepared flexible EPDM based rubber nanocomposites for electromagnetic shielding using pyrrole modified MXene (PPy-MXene) and copper nanowires (CuNWs) as nanofillers. Here, PPy-MXene was obtained via HCl+LiF etching of Ti 3 AlC 2 and the subsequent pyrrole modification. CuNWs were prepared using hydrothermal method. The results showed that the combination of PPy-MXene and CuNWs can synergistical enhanced the mechanical, electrical conductivity, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performaces of the rubber nanocomposites. The composite filled with 1 wt% of PPy-MXene and 5 wt% of CuNWs (28.35 dB) exhibits higher shielding efficiency than that filled by just one type of nanofillers at the same loading, and the shielding of electromagnetic waves mainly relies on absorption loss due to synergistic effect and the formation of a more complete network structure of PPy-MXene and CuNWs.