J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2026, Vol. 259: 220-230.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2025.10.009

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Multifunctional Janus composite films with spontaneous gravity-induced asymmetric gradient for absorption-dominated electromagnetic interference shielding and high-efficiency thermal management

Mengxin Liu, Haoran Zhang*, Xinmeng Huang, Ziyi Zhang, Shulin Huang, Qihui Wen, Jintang Zhou, Lei Pan*   

  1. College of Materials Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
  • Received:2025-08-20 Revised:2025-10-07 Accepted:2025-10-07 Published:2026-07-10 Online:2025-10-16
  • Contact: *E-mail addresses: haoranzhang@nuaa.edu.cn (H. Zhang), bettypan@nuaa.edu.cn (L. Pan).

Abstract: With the rapid advancement of high-power electronics, developing advanced multifunctional electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials that simultaneously realize high shielding effectiveness (SE), low reflection, and mechanical adaptability remains a critical challenge. This work presents a gravity-driven assembly strategy to construct asymmetric gradient structures by spatially distributing low-density MXene nanosheets@hollow Fe3O4 nanospheres (MXene@HFO) and high-density silver-coated tetraneedle ZnO whiskers (T-ZnO@Ag) within a waterborne polyurethane (WPU) matrix. The self-organized Janus architecture optimizes impedance matching and enables a multiple “absorption-reflection-reabsorption” loss mechanism. The resulting composite film achieves absorption-dominated EMI shielding with an SE of 72.4 dB and an absorption coefficient (A) of 0.54. Notably, it also exhibits exceptional mechanical properties, including over 400% reversible stretchability, robust durability for 1000 cycles, and strain-responsive shielding tunability, addressing key limitations in practical applications. Moreover, the interconnected conductive network delivers rapid Joule heating (174 °C in 30 s at 2.5 V) and high thermal conductivity (9.53 W m-1 K-1), enabling efficient thermal management. The proposed multifunctional film holds great promise for next-generation electronics requiring simultaneous EMI protection and thermal management, while the one-step fabrication methodology offers scalability advantages suitable for industrial production.

Key words: Gravity-induced assembly, Electromagnetic interference shielding, Ti3C2Tx MXene, Asymmetric gradient structure, Low reflection