Hollow engineering of sandwich NC@Co/NC@MnO 2 composites toward strong wideband electromagnetic wave attenuation

Multiple hetero-interfaces would strengthen interfacial polarization and boost electromagnetic wave absorption, but still remain the formidable challenges in decreasing filler loadings. Herein, sandwich NC@Co/NC@MnO2 composites with hollow cavity, multiple hetero-interfaces, and hierarchical structures have been fabricated via the cooperative processes of self-sacrifice strategy and sequential hydrother-mal reaction. In the sandwich composites, middle magnetic components (Co/NC) are wrapped by inner N-doped carbon (NC) matrix and outer hierarchical MnO2 nanosheets. Importantly, hollow engineering of sandwich composites with multiple hetero-interfaces greatly facilitates the enhancement of absorp-tion bandwidth without sacrificing the absorption intensity. The maximum reflection loss of sandwich NC@Co/NC@MnO2 composites reaches-44.8 dB at 2.5 mm and the effective bandwidths is achieved as wide as 9.6 GHz at 2.3 mm. These results provide us a new insight into preparing efficient electromag-netic wave absorbers by interface engineering and hollow construction.(c) 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

Automated summary

In this study, sandwich composites with hollow cavity, multiple hetero-interfaces, and hierarchical structures were fabricated through the cooperative processes of self-sacrifice strategy and sequential hydrothermal reaction. These composites exhibit a wide absorption bandwidth and high absorption intensity, providing a new approach for preparing efficient electromagnetic wave absorbers.