Reduced graphene oxide-manganese ferrite/zinc oxide nanorods coated carbonized cotton fabric for absorption-dominant electromagnetic interference shielding

In this interconnected world, safeguarding electronic devices from electromagnetic interference (EMI) is crucial. This study introduces an innovative approach to enhance EMI shielding by synergistically coating cotton fabric with vertically aligned zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) and reduced graphene oxide-magnetic ferrite nanoparticles (RGO-MF). Vertical ZnO NRs coating is achieved by seeding cotton fabric with ZnO nanoparticles, followed by hydrothermal NR growth. Subsequently, uniform RGO-MF coating is carried out by spraying a solution of graphene oxide-MF nanoparticles onto ZnO NRs coated cotton, followed by thermal annealing to reduce graphene oxide. Our observations reveal that EMI shielding effectiveness increases with RGO loading, while reflection loss decreases due to enhanced cotton fabric conductivity. Careful optimization of RGO-MF on ZnO NRs coated cotton is demonstrated. The incorporation of MF nanoparticles not only improves EMI shielding but also enhances reflection loss, highlighting the shield's absorption-dominant nature. The resulting RGO-MF/ZnO NRs coated cotton exhibits a high total EMI shielding effectiveness of ∼55 dB, reflection loss of 6.8 dB, and an absorption coefficient of 74.5 %, which attribute to the remarkable dielectric properties of ZnO NRs, the exceptional conductivity of RGO sheets, the strong magnetism of MF nanoparticles, and the enhanced core-shell structure of the cotton fabric with these materials.