Review Polymer/carbon based composites as electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials Jean-Michel Thomassin a, *, Christine Je ´ro ˆme a , Thomas Pardoen b,c , Christian Bailly b,c,d , Isabelle Huynen b,e, *, Christophe Detrembleur a, * a University of Liege (ULg), Department of Chemistry, Center for Education and Research on Macromolecules (CERM), Sart-Tilman B6A, 4000 Liege, Belgium b Research Center in Architectured and Composite Materials, ARCOMAT, Universite ´ Catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium c Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering (iMMC) , Universite ´ Catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium d Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanosciences (IMCN) , Universite ´ Catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium e Information and Communications Technologies, Electronics and Applied Mathematics (ICTEAM) , Universite ´ Catholique de Louvain, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Materials Science and Engineering R xxx (2013) xxx–xxx A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Available online xxx A B S T R A C T The extensive development of electronic systems and telecommunications has lead to major concerns regarding electromagnetic pollution. Motivated by environmental questions and by a wide variety of applications, the quest for materials with high efficiency to mitigate electromagnetic interferences (EMI) pollution has become a mainstream field of research. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art research in the design and characterization of polymer/carbon based composites as EMI shielding materials. After a brief introduction, in Section 1, the electromagnetic theory will be briefly discussed in Section 2 setting the foundations of the strategies to be employed to design efficient EMI shielding materials. These materials will be classified in the next section by the type of carbon fillers, involving carbon black, carbon fiber, carbon nanotubes and graphene. The importance of the dispersion method into the polymer matrix (melt-blending, solution processing, etc.) on the final material properties will be discussed. The combination of carbon fillers with other constituents such as metallic nanoparticles or conductive polymers will be the topic of Section 4. The final section will address advanced complex architectures that are currently studied to improve the performances of EMI materials and, in some cases, to impart additional properties such as thermal management and mechanical resistance. In all these studies, we will discuss the efficiency of the composites/devices to absorb and/or reflect the EMI radiation. ß 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Abbreviations: mm, micrometer; 3D, three dimensional; ABS, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer; Ag, silver; ASTM, American Society for Testing and Material; BR, butyl rubber; CB, carbon black; cm, centimeter; CNF, carbon nanofiber; CNP, carbon nanoparticle; CNT, carbon nanotube; CO 2 , carbon dioxide; Db, decibels; DC, direct current; E, electrical field; EM, electromagnetic; EMA, poly(ethylene-co- methylacrylate); EMI, electromagnetic interference; EMT, Effective Medium Theory; EPDM, ethylene-propylene-diene monomer rubber; EVA, poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate); GFRC, glass fiber reinforced cement; GHz, GigaHertz; GS, graphene sheet; H, magnetic field; HDPE, high density polyethylene; HIPS, high impact polystyrene; LDPE, low density polyethylene; LLDPE, linear low density polyethylene; MHz, MegaHertz; mm, millimeter; MMA, methyl methacrylate; MWNT, multi-walled carbon nanotube; NBR, nitrile butadiene rubber; Ni, nickel; nm, Nanometer; P(Vac-co-VA), poly(vinyl acetate- co-vinyl alcohol); P3HT, poly(3-hexylthiophene); PANI, polyaniline; Pc, percolation threshold; PC, polycarbonate; PCL, polycaprolactone; PDMS, poly(dimethylsiloxane); PE, polyethylene; PEEK, poly(ether ether ketone); PEO, poly(ethylene oxide); PET, poly(ethylene terephtalate); PEtOc, poly(ethylene-co-octene); Pin, incident power; PLLA, poly(L-lactide); PMMA, poly(methyl methacrylate); PMTT, poly(trimethylene terephtalate); POSS, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes); Pout, transmitted power; PP, polypropylene; PPE, poly(phenylene ether); PP-g-MA, poly(propylene-graft-maleic anhydride); PPV, poly(p-phenylene-vinylene); PPY, polypyrolle; Pref, reflected power; PS, polystyrene; PUR, polyurethane; PVC, poly(vinyl chloride); PVDF, poly(vinylidene fluoride); PVOH, poly(vinyl alcohol); PVP, poly(vinylpyrrolidone); RAM, radar absorbing materials; RCS, radar cross section; RF, radio frequency; S, Siemens; SBR, styrene-butadiene rubber; SE, shielding effectiveness; SEA, shielding effectiveness by absorption; SER, shielding effectiveness by reflection; Sn, Tin; SWNT, single-walled carbon nanotube; VGCNF, vapor grown carbon nanofiber; VNA, vector network analyzer; wt%, Weight Percent; e, dielectric constant; m, permeability; s, electrical conductivity. * Corresponding authors. Tel.: +32 4 3663465; fax: +32 4 3663497. E-mail address: christophe.detrembleur@ulg.ac.be (C. Detrembleur). G Model MSR-430; No. of Pages 22 Please cite this article in press as: J.-M. Thomassin, et al., Mater. Sci. Eng. R (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mser.2013.06.001 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Materials Science and Engineering R jou r nal h o mep ag e: w ww .elsevier .co m /loc ate/m ser 0927-796X/$ – see front matter ß 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mser.2013.06.001