Carbonized Charcoal‐Loaded PVDF Polymer Composite: A Promising EMI Shielding Material

Microcomposites of charcoal‐loaded polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer have been prepared by solution mixing and hot compression method for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding applications. Electrical conductivity, dielectric properties and EMI shielding efficiency of these composites have been studied in the X-band (8.2–12.4 GHz) frequency region. An increase in the conductivity from ~ 1.47 × 10 −14 S/cm for pure PVDF to 23.2 S/cm for 80 wt.% charcoal‐loaded PVDF composite is obtained with improved mechanical strength. High effective dielectric constant ( ∈ ′ ) value of 116.06 and dielectric loss ( ∈ ″ ) of 233.59 are obtained at a frequency of 8.2 GHz. A high value of total shielding (SE T ), shielding due to absorption (SE A ) and shielding due to reflection (SE R ) are measured to be 70.1 dB, 59.3 dB and 9.2 dB, respectively, for 80 wt.% charcoal‐incorporated PVDF polymer composite, respectively. Dispersion studies suggest that SE T of the charcoal‐loaded PVDF polymer composite is independent of frequency and is mainly absorption dominant which makes it a suitable material for EMI shielding applications.