Engineering flexible and green electromagnetic interference shielding materials with high performance through modulating WS₂ nanosheets on carbon fibers

Flexible and wearable electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding material is one of the current research focuses in the field of EMI shielding. In this work, for the first time, WS₂-carbon fiber (WS₂-CF) composites are synthesized by implanting WS₂, which has a multiphase structure and a large number of defects, onto the surface of carbon fiber (CF) by using a simple one-step hydrothermal method, and are applied to protect electronic devices from EMI. It is found that the EMI shielding performance of WS₂-CF is significantly improved, especially for those at S– and C-bands. At 2 GHz, the EMI shielding efficiency could reach 36.0 dB at a typical thickness of 3.00 mm of the composite, which is much better than that of pure CF (25.5 dB). Besides paving a novel avenue to optimize the electromagnetic shielding performance of flexible and wearable CF-based EMI shielding materials, which have great potential in the practical application for EMI shielding, this work provides a new paradigm for the design and synthesis of EMI shielding materials which have a broad application prospect.