Development of Graphene-Rare Earth-Based Composites for Enhancing EMI Shielding Fabrics

The rapid proliferation of garment-embedded electronics and the growing demands for effective electromagnetic interference shielding have spurred the development of innovative materials that are lightweight, wearable, and multifunctional. In this work, a ceria/graphene/poly-(vinyl alcohol)/cotton composite is fabricated using a simple dip-coating technique to produce flexible and lightweight EMI shielding fabrics. The composite's structural, chemical, and morphological features were thoroughly examined using XRD, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, FE-SEM, and elemental mapping, confirming effective incorporation and homogeneous dispersion of the fillers within the cotton matrix. The resulting modified fabric exhibits a high shielding effectiveness of 33.81 dB in the X-band despite its minimal thickness of only 0.48 mm. The mechanism is predominantly absorption rather than reflection. Computer simulation technology simulation results demonstrated a strong agreement with experimental shielding effectiveness values, confirming the validity of the experimental methodology. Furthermore, the composite fabric achieved a high electrical conductivity of 5.7 S/m, indicating better electron mobility and network formation. Mechanical evaluations demonstrated that the fabric maintained excellent flexibility and robustness, delivering a consistent performance under repeated deformation. It is found that the predominant factor driving the enhanced performance is the synergistic interaction between cerium oxide and graphene. These fabric-based, lightweight composites exhibit significant potential as effective shielding materials for applications in wearable electronics and aerospace technologies.