Application of Cactus on Textiles as a Shielding Agent against Electromagnetic Waves

Cotton textile was prepared by using cactus salts to produce shielding for electromagnetic waves. To transfer shielding properties to nanocomposites, they must be subjected to certain finishes, such as surface finishing or certain types of additives. The minerals such as copper, which absorbs radio and other electromagnetic waves, used for shielding radio frequency. In this study, cotton textile was dyed using cactus solution by exhaustion method. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and network analyzer were performed to evaluate the chemical composition and its shielding effectiveness. The results showed that the mineral salts in the cactus have been applied to the textile. Also, the degree of shielding against electromagnetic interference of the samples was measured in the range of 2 to 7 GHz and the results showed that the shielding effectiveness of textiles with the use of cactus in the frequency range of 4-5.5 GHz has increased from 34.195 to 44.912 dB. Therefore, cactus solution has been effective on the shielding effectiveness of the textile.