Shielding behaviour of conducting polymer-coated fabrics in X-band, W-band and radio frequency range

Electromagnetic interference response of conducting polyaniline-coated fabrics in the microwave range, W-band, RFI range as well as in UV–Vis–NIR range has been studied. In the radio frequency range from 100 to 1000 MHz, conducting polyaniline-coated fabrics shows a shielding effectiveness in the range 30–40 dB. Shielding effectiveness of the conducting fabrics in W-band region at 101 GHz shows an attenuation of 35.61 dB. The microwave reflectance studies of the coated fabrics in 8–12 GHz range shows that conducting fabrics gives shielding effectiveness value of −3 to −11 dB. The reflectance studies of conducting polyaniline-coated fabric shows that 98% of the energy is absorbed in the UV–Vis–NIR range and 2% is reflected back. In polypyrrole-coated fabric 96% of energy is absorbed and 4% is reflected back, whereas in substituted polythiophene-coated fabric, 82% of the energy is absorbed and 18% is reflected back.