Recent advances and perspectives on silver-based polymer composites for electromagnetic interference shielding

Owing to the increasing threat of pollution by electromagnetic interference (EMI) wave pollution, it is increasingly imperative to design and validate new high-performance EMI shielding materials. In recent decades, silver/polymer composites have attracted interest in the field of EMI shielding because of their unique properties such as easy processing, light weight, superior conductivity, ultrahigh shielding effectiveness and excellent mechanical properties. Based on the form of silver fillers, silver/polymer composites can be classified as silver nanoparticle/polymer, silver nanowire/polymer and silver nanoflake/polymer composites. In this review, for each class of materials, we focus on the design of the composite structure (i.e., spatial filler distribution, three-dimensional hierarchical structure, and effect of porosity) and identification of preparation strategies to maximize the EMI shielding effectiveness and overcome fatal shortcomings, such as the easy oxidation of silver and high contact resistance of silver nanowires. On account of the current progress and the state-of-the-art, the future development of silver/polymer composites is also prospected.