Tunable sulfur vacancies and hetero-interfaces of FeS2-based composites for high-efficiency electromagnetic wave absorption

Controlling Vacancies and heterointerfaces of nano/microstuctures is very challenging, importantly, which tailors the electromagnetic (EM) parameters to develop the high-performance electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbers. Herein, we report a strategy using various sulfur-source modifying Fe3O4 nano-sphere by one-step hydrothermal method to prepare a series of FeS2-based composites. Diverse sulfur sources determine their morphologies, crystal structures and compositions, and further affect EMW absorption abilities. Among these materials, rich sulfur vacancies and abundant heterogeneous interfaces improve their conduction loss and polarization loss caused by a unique concave cubic polyhedrons structure of the Fe3O4/FeS2 composites fabricated by thioacetamide (TAA), which displays the brilliant EMW absorption capacity compared to others. That is, it possesses the minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of similar to 59.27 dB and effective absorption bandwidth (EAB, RL <= -10 dB) of 5.86 GHz at the thin thickness of 1.8 mm. This study opens a new avenue for designing the superior EMW absorbers by tunable sulfur vacancy and heterointerface. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study introduces a new strategy to prepare FeS2-based composites with rich sulfur vacancies and diverse heterogeneous interfaces, which enhance the electromagnetic wave absorption capabilities. The choice of sulfur sources influences the morphology, crystal structure, and composition of the materials, ultimately affecting their electromagnetic wave absorption performance.