Absorption-dominant EMI shielding aims to dissipate electromagnetic waves as heat inside the material rather than bounce them back into the environment. Asymmetric structures achieve this by programming the material’s conductivity, permittivity, and permeability along the wave travel direction, so the wave enters easily and is consumed in stages. This breaks the old trade-off where high shielding effectiveness always meant high surface reflection and secondary electromagnetic pollution. Why the old “block the wave” logic hit a wall Five-G, wearable electronics, aerospace, and automotive systems keep packing more circuits into smaller spaces. Electromagnetic interference shielding, often called EMI shielding, is no longer a minor nuisance. It is a core threat to signal…