Hierarchical Ti3C2Tx@ZnO Hollow Spheres with Excellent Microwave Absorption Inspired by the Visual Phenomenon of Eyeless Urchins

Ingenious microstructure design and rational composition selection are effective approaches to realize high-performance microwave absorbers, and the advancement of biomimetic manufacturing provides a new strategy. In nature, urchins are the animals without eyes but can see, because their special structure composed of regular spines and spherical photosensitive bodies amplifies the light-receiving ability. Herein, inspired by the above phenomenon, the biomimetic urchin-like Ti3C2Tx@ZnO hollow microspheres are rationally designed and fabricated, in which ZnO nanoarrays (length: similar to 2.3 mu m, diameter: similar to 100 nm) as the urchin spines are evenly grafted onto the surface of the Ti3C2Tx hollow spheres (diameter: similar to 4.2 mu m) as the urchin spherical photosensitive bodies. The construction of gradient impedance and hierarchical hetero- Fraquency (CHzi structures enhance the attenuation of incident electromagnetic waves. And the EMW loss behavior is further revealed by limited integral simulation calculations, which fully highlights the advantages of the urchin-like architecture. As a result, the Ti3C2Tx@ZnO hollow spheres deliver a strong reflection loss of - 57.4 dB and broad effective absorption bandwidth of 6.56 GHz, superior to similar absorbents. This work provides a new biomimetic strategy for the design and manufacturing of advanced microwave absorbers.

Automated summary

Ingenious microstructure design and rational composition selection are effective approaches in achieving high-performance microwave absorbers. This study introduces a biomimetic strategy for the design and manufacturing of advanced microwave absorbers, inspired by the light-receiving ability of urchins. The biomimetic urchin-like Ti3C2Tx@ZnO hollow microspheres exhibit superior performance in terms of reflection loss and absorption bandwidth.