A review on efficient electromagnetic interference shielding materials by recycling waste—a trio of land to lab to land concept

The materials used in electrical and electronic applications have great importance and broader applications, but they have severe electromagnetic interference (EMI). These materials have extensive applications in broadcasting, medical industries, research, defence sectors, communication and similar fields. The EMI can be addressed by using effective EMI shielding materials. This review presents a detailed, comprehensive description for making electromagnetic interference shielding material by recycling various wastes. It starts with highlighting the overview of electromagnetic interference shielding (EMI) and its theoretical aspects. It provides a comprehensive and detailed understanding of recent trends in the novel approaches towards fabricating EMI shielding from industrial waste, agricultural waste and other miscellaneous wastes. This paper critically reviews the works related to the recycling of wastes like red mud (waste from the aluminium refining industry), ground tyre rubber, tea waste (biowaste) from tea industries, bagasse (waste from sugar cane industry), peanut and hazelnut shells (agricultural waste), waste tissue paper and polyethylene and other miscellaneous wastes like hydrocarbon carbon black and ash for the fabrication of highly effective electromagnetic (EM) interference shielding materials. Highly effective results have been reported using red mud showing maximum efficiency of 51.4 dB in X-band range, various agricultural waste displaying reflection loss of up to − 87.117 dB (in the range 0.01 to 20 GHz) and miscellaneous waste giving EMI SE of 80 dB in X-band frequency. A separate section is dedicated to emphasizing future work and recommendations.