MXene/wood-derived hierarchical cellulose scaffold composite with superior electromagnetic shielding.

• The MXene/cellulose scaffold is assembled by hydrogen bonding. • The "brick-mortar" layered microstructure enhances the EMI shielding performance. • The total EMI SE reaches as high as 39.3 dB. • The efficient production of robust and flexible sustainable EMI shielding materials. Electromagnetic-interference (EMI) shielding materials that are green, lightweight, and with high mechanical properties need to be urgently developed to address increasingly severe radiation pollution. However, limited EMI shielding materials are successfully used in practical applications, due to the intensive energy consumption or the absence of sufficient strength. Herein, an environmentally friendly and effective method was proved to fabricate wood-based composites with high mechanical robustness and EMI shielding performance by a MXene/cellulose scaffold assembly strategy. The lignocellulose composites with a millimeter–thick mimic the "mortar-brick" layered structure, resulting in excellent mechanical properties that can achieve the compressive strength of 288 MPa and EMI shielding effectiveness of 39.3 dB. This "top-down" method provides an alternative for the efficient production of robust and sustainable EMI shielding materials that can be used in the fields of structural materials for next-generation communications and electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]