IT Home reported on October 7 that a team led by Yan Jingling and Chen Haiming from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, successfully developed a new electromagnetic shielding aerogel with a cow stomach-like pleated structure.
According to reports, this material is a composite of high-temperature-resistant polyimide and conductive carbon nanotubes. By adjusting the content of carbon nanotubes and employing freeze-drying technology, it forms a unique central radial multilevel structure, overcoming the application limitations of traditional electromagnetic shielding materials in high-temperature environments.
Traditional metal shielding materials suffer from issues such as high weight, susceptibility to corrosion, and poor flexibility, while the new aerogel achieves a conductivity of 38 Siemens per meter while maintaining 98.7% porosity. Its unique folded structure endows the material with exceptional elasticity, retaining 98.2% structural stability after 500 compression cycles and exhibiting a negative Poisson's effect with lateral expansion under compression
In terms of electromagnetic shielding performance, the shielding effectiveness reaches 71 decibels (equivalent to blocking 99.9999% of electromagnetic waves) at room temperature, while the performance not only remains stable but even improves under high-temperature conditions of 350°C.
This groundbreaking technology overcomes two major challenges in polymer-based materials: it resolves the conflict between high porosity and high conductivity for the first time while eliminating the negative impact of porous structures on mechanical properties.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences stated that the material can be applied to scenarios such as aerospace electronic equipment protection and high-temperature component shielding in 5G base stations. The research was supported by the National Postdoctoral Research Program and the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation, providing a novel solution for electromagnetic protection in high-temperature harsh environments.
The related findings were published in the international materials journal *Advanced Materials* in September.