Terahertz technology holds considerable promise for advanced radar detection, wireless communication, and biomedical fields, yet it also raises concomitant electromagnetic interference and pollution issues, creating an urgent demand for high-performance terahertz shielding materials as safeguard. SiOC ceramics have emerged as promising candidates for electromagnetic shielding owing to their high-temperature resistance, high mechanical strength, and compatibility with three dimensional printing. Nevertheless, their intrinsic shielding capability remains limited. How can effective shielding, rapid heat dissipation, and complex structural shaping be achieved simultaneously of the ceramic?
In the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing , Prof. Rujie He at Beijing Institute of Technology and his co-workers have resolved this electromagnetic trap from both materials and topological perspectives, developing a heat-venting ceramic metastructure capable of highly efficient terahertz shielding.
At the material level, MXene, BN nanosheets, and SiC whiskers are incorporated into the SiOC matrix through heterointerface engineering, creating multiscale heterointerfaces and a continuous conductive network. At the structural level, four types of TPMS porous metastructures were designed and fabricated via vat photopolymerization 3D printing, enabling nearly complete attenuation of incident terahertz waves.
The researchers modified BN nanoparticles using a sucrose-assisted mechanical exfoliation method. Abundant hydroxyl functional groups were introduced onto the BN surface, facilitating the uniform attachment of MXene nanosheets through molecular hydrogen bonding while suppressing agglomeration. Meanwhile, one dimensional SiC whiskers were introduced as bridges to construct multiscale heterointerfaces, providing abundant polarization sites for electromagnetic dissipation.
The multiphase fillers synergistically formed a continuous conductive network, enhancing interfacial polarization and conductive loss and thereby optimizing the dielectric loss characteristics of the composites. Following compositional optimization through orthogonal experiments, the average electromagnetic shielding effectiveness reached 42.3 dB with an absorption dominated shielding mechanism.
The team then fabricated Diamond (D), I-Wrapped Parallel (I-WP), Gyroid (G), and Primitive (P) TPMS metastructures, all of which exhibited terahertz transmissivity below 0.2%. The interconnected curved channels within these architectures induce multiple reflection and scattering of incident terahertz waves, substantially extending their propagation paths and promoting progressive energy dissipation. Among the four architectures, the D structure exhibited the highest shielding performance, achieving an average shielding effectiveness of 68.3 dB, an improvement of over 60% compared to bulk material, and outperforming most reported electromagnetic shielding materials.
Remarkably, the architecture also exhibited multifunctional characteristics. Its hydrophobic and antifouling surface, with a water contact angle of 115.9°, can help protect sensitive electronic and avionic components against moisture contamination. In addition, the highly effective thermally conductive network established by BN endows the architecture with excellent heat dissipation capability, enabling the simultaneous management of electromagnetic interference and thermal accumulation.
This study establishes a new paradigm for high-performance terahertz shielding ceramics through the synergistic integration of material modification and structural design. The proposed strategy could potentially be extended to other ceramic systems and electromagnetic frequency bands, providing a versatile route toward high-temperature-resistant, lightweight, and multifunctionally integrated electromagnetic shielding components for aerospace, precision electronics, and next-generation communications.
International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing (IJEM, IF: 25.1 ) is devoted to publishing articles of the highest quality and significance to pushing the limits of scales, precision, performance and environments in manufacturing.
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International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing
Boosting high-performance terahertz wave shielding of MXene@BNS/SiCw/SiOC composites by heterogeneous interface engineering and 3D-printed metastructure design
11-Sep-2026