Interlayer controllable of hierarchical MWCNTs@C@FexOy cross-linked composite with wideband electromagnetic absorption performance

Magnetic multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) hybrids are a promising high-performance electromagnetic (EM) absorber with the merits of wideband, thin thickness and lightweight etc. Even so, it remains a challenge to achieve a wideband absorption under a thickness (d < 1.5 mm), simultaneously, owning to some limitations (e.g. inverse radiation, poor polarization and magnetic loss etc). To overcome it, MWCNTs@C@FexOy(Fe/alpha-Fe2O3) was developed here, using a layer-by-layer method to decorate MWCNTs with benefited amorphous carbon (C) and magnetic component (FexOy: Fe/alpha-Fe2O3), aiming to optimize the EM performance. The result reveals that the effective absorption region (denoted as: f(E)) covers 4.6 GHz within a thickness of 1.0 mm only. The mechanism for the exceptionally EM performance is proposed by investigating the influences of components, structures, especially the graphitization-tunable of interlayer carbon layer. The utilization of component modifying strategy on MWCNTs is a greatly of significance in development of lightweight, wideband electromagnetic absorber.