Lightweight, absorption-effective EMI shielding is pursued here by engineering oriented, porous filler architectures in polymers. In the first study, non-oxidized graphene flakes (NOGF) were blended with PVDF and processed as either hot-pressed, non-o...
Lightweight, absorption-effective EMI shielding is pursued here by engineering oriented, porous filler architectures in polymers. In the first study, non-oxidized graphene flakes (NOGF) were blended with PVDF and processed as either hot-pressed, non-oriented bulk or unidirectionally freeze-cast foams at 10 wt% filler and fixed solution volume (total mass 3–6 g). X-band results were benchmarked using total shielding effectiveness (SET), specific SE (SSE, dB·cm³/g), thickness-normalized specific SE (SSE/t, dB·cm²/g), and reflection– transmission–absorption power coefficients. Among foams, the 4g- Foam was optimal, reaching SSE 96.33 dB·cm³/g and SSE/t 511.03 dB·cm²/g; at the same mass it outperformed the non-oriented 4g-Bulk by ~5.15 times in both SSE and SSE/t while keeping transmission below 0.5% and tripling the absorption share (A ≈ 0.25 vs 0.08). These gains stem from improved impedance matching due to porosity and elongated EM paths with internal scattering/multiple reflections inside oriented channels. In the second study, Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXene/PDMS composites were designed to exploit anisotropy. During MILD (LiF/HCl) synthesis, gentle arm-shaker delamination preserved larger flakes and minimized Al-impurity signatures compared with ultrasonication; inert annealing at 500 °C hydrophobized MXene surfaces without structural loss and enabled stable PDMS infiltration, whereas 700 °C caused oxidation. Orientation from freestanding, unidirectionally freeze-cast MXene aerogels was retained after infiltration. Longitudinal specimens (ML) exhibited ~2.2 times higher SER and ~180.7 times higher SEA than transverse (MT), yielding ~397.2 times higher SET; the reflection power coefficient increased from 0.71 (MT) to 0.87 (ML), and electrical conductivity was ~2.77 times higher, consistent with more continuous conductive pathways and longer effective propagation paths. Together, these results show that mild delamination, 500 °C inert annealing, and oriented porous networks maximize SSE/SSE/t while enabling direction-dependent performance.