Highly efficient low cost EMI shielding by barium ferrite encapsulated polythiophene nanocomposite

Barium ferrite encapsulated polythiophene (BaFe12O19/PTh) nanocomposite has been synthesized to analyse electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. The morphological analysis of the synthesized composites has been investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which confirmed the encapsulation of BaFe12O19 nanoparticles by PTh forming a core-shell structure. Highest loading of BaFe12O19 in composite (NC-100 i.e. BaFe12O19:PTh = 1:1) exhibits excellent magnetic properties with a magnetic moment and coercivity of 25.78 emu/gm and 2.5 kOe, respectively. Microwave shielding behaviour of the nanocomposite samples has been tested in X-band region by vector network analyser. Highest −43.27 dB shielding effectiveness at 11.65 GHz has been obtained in NC-100 composite. The excellent shielding effectiveness is due to the synergistic effect of dielectric and magnetic loss of the nanocomposite. These results suggest that the BaFe12O19/PTh nanocomposite (NC-100) exhibited superior EMI shielding properties and find wider application as low cost, high performance, lightweight microwave absorbing material.