Carbon blacks could be used as the filler for the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. The poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) were used as the matrix for the carbon black fillers. Porous carbon blacks were prepared by CO2 activation. The activation was performed by treating the carbon blacks in CO2 to different degrees of burnoff. During the activation, the enlargement of pore diameters, and development of microporous and mesoporous structures were introduced in the carbon blacks, resulting in an increase of extremely large specific surface areas. The porosity of carbon blacks was an increasing function of the degree of burn-off. The surface area increased from 80 m2/g to 1142 m2/g and the total pore volume increased from 0.14073 cc·g-1 to 0.9343 cc·g-1. Also, the C=O functional group characterized by aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids and esters was enhanced during the activation process. The EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of raw N330 carbon blacks filled with PVA was about 1 dB and those of the activated carbon blacks increased to the values between 6 and 9 dB. The EMI SE of raw N330 carbon blacks filled with PVDF was about 7 dB and the EMI SE increased to the range from 11 to 15 dB by the activation.

• Quanli Hu(Department of Chemical Engineering, Myongji University)
• Myung-Soo Kim(Department of Chemical Engineering, Myongji University)