Hierarchically Structured Cellulose Acetate@Silk Protein Membrane with Enhanced Mechanical and Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Performances

Compared to conventional fibers, electrospun porous nanofibers with hierarchical structures often involve additional active sites, interfaces, and internal spaces which boost the performances of functional materials. Here in this study, coaxial composite cellulose acetate@silk fibroin (CA@SF) fibrous membranes are constructed through an electrostatic spinning technique combining solvent-induced phase separation. Hierarchical core-shell structures on the fibers are achieved, which significantly increases the surface area and benefits the mechanical property, flux, as well as the electroless deposition of Ag nanoparticles. The total electromagnetic shielding efficiency of the sandwiched hierarchical CA@SF@Ag composite membrane with a thickness of only 100 μm reaches up to 100 dB, surpassing around 82% beyond nonhierarchical ones. To be noticed, when post-treated by ethanol, the membrane enables an enhanced tensile strength of up to 10 MPa with a thickness of only 50 μm. Our findings pave the way to the application of electrospun fiber membranes in the field of ultrathin electromagnetic shielding films.