Poly(3, 4-ethylene Dioxythiophene) Grafted Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Decorated Polyurethane Foam For Antistatic And EMI Shielding Applications

The paper reports the designing of PEDOT grafted PU foam by in-situ emulsion polymerization of ethylene dioxy thiophene (EDOT) on polyurethane foam (PU) containing multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and by coating PEDOT on PU foam and to study their antistatic and electromagnetic shielding behavior. Static decay time measurements reveal that PEDOT grafted PU foam shows static decay time ranging from 0.17 sec to 0.75 sec on going down from 5000 v to 500 volts. EMI shielding measurement of the foam in Ku-band shows a shielding attenuation of 8-10 dB which indicates that that the foam can find applications as antistatic encapsulation material in electronic packaging of high tech equipments. SEM studies of the foam shows a uniform coating of PEDOT on PU foam leading to better conductivity of the conducting foam which accounts for its better anti-static properties.