Anchoring well-dispersed magnetic nanoparticles on biomass-derived 2D porous carbon nanosheets for lightweight and efficient microwave absorption

Exploring sustainable, lightweight and high-performance electromagnetic (EM) absorber with adjustable properties is crucial to solve EM interference issue. Herein, magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were uniformly anchored on 2D porous carbon nanosheets (PCS) that derived from the biomass pomelo peel to assemble Fe3O4/PCS hybrids via a facile solvothermal route. Morphology observations indicate the presence of PCS benefits the uniform dispersion of Fe3O4 NPs. And the deposition proportion of Fe3O4 NPs could be well modulated by tuning the feeding ratio of Fe source. Remarkably, when the filler content is as low as 15 wt%, the strong reflection loss of -50.3 dB and broad absorption bandwidth of 5.8 GHz can be obtained at a small thickness of 1.6 mm. The superior performance should be attributed to the unique nanosheet-like structure of PCS and well-dispersed Fe3O4 NPs. This study may help further development of carbonized biomass and construction of 0D/2D magnetic-dielectric synergistic EM absorber.

Automated summary

This study synthesized Fe3O4/PCS hybrids via a solvothermal route, demonstrating the ability to achieve excellent electromagnetic absorption performance at low filler content. The results showed that the unique structure of PCS and the uniform dispersion of Fe3O4 NPs are crucial factors for achieving this performance.