Hierarchical cerium oxide anchored multi-walled carbon nanotube hybrid with synergistic effect for microwave attenuation

Microwave absorbing materials with light weight, high efficiency and broad effective bandwidth are strongly desired due to their widespread applications in military and civil fields. Here, hierarchical cerium oxide anchored multi-walled carbon nanotube (CeO2 -MWCNT) hybrids were synthesized via a one-step hydrothermal method. Compared with the pure CeO2 and MWCNT, the combination of magnetic and dielectric blocks endows the hybrid enhanced microwave absorption capacity. The optimal hybrid exhibits a minimum reflection loss of - 40.95 dB, which is 66.89 times and 3.94 times as strong as that of CeO2 ( - 0.62 dB) and MWCNT ( -10.51 dB), respectively. Microwave attenuation mechanism analysis indicates that the remarkable microwave absorption capacity of CeO2 -MWCNT results from the electromagnetic loss that derived from its hierarchical network. Moreover, it has been found that oxygen vacancies of CeO2 play an important role in defects-induced polarization loss, thus leading to the strong microwave absorption. Consequently, this cerium-based hybrid can be a promising candidate for microwave attenuation applications.