Copper/bamboo fabric composite prepared via a silver catalytic electroless deposition process for electromagnetic shielding

Abstract

Abstract Copper/bamboo fabric composite prepared via a silver catalytic electroless plating process is reported. The microstructure of the composite was analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy, which illustrated that the copper coating was composed of spherical particles and clusters. The composition and chemical state of the metal layer were measured using X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis spectra; copper and a small amount of nickel were detected. Mechanical properties were measured based on a standard (ISO 13934-1:1999) for the fabrics with and without copper coating. The breaking force for the composite was improved by about 16.8% compared to uncoated bamboo fabric. The electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of the composite was more than 40 dB at frequencies ranging from 0.2 to 1000 MHz. The copper coating on bamboo fabric passed the Scotch®-tape test.