A MOF-derived ZrO2/C nanocomposite for efficient electromagnetic wave absorption

Abstract

Carbon-based materials derived from metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have drawn increasing research attention for high-performance electromagnetic wave absorption due to their unique microstructure. In this work, MOF-derived ZrO₂/C octahedra have been successfully synthesized from UIO-66. The ZrO₂ nanoparticles (4–6 nm) were evenly distributed inside the octahedral carbon matrix with an average edge length of 500 nm. Benefiting from the suitable carbonization treatment, which leads to a strong attenuation capacity and a harmonious impedance matching characteristic, superb electromagnetic wave absorption performances with a minimum reflection loss (RL) value of −58.7 dB (16.8 GHz, 1.5 mm) have been achieved. And the effective absorption bandwidth (EAB; RL < −10 dB) could cover 91.3% (3.4–18.0 GHz) of the measured frequency within the thickness range of 1.0–5.0 mm. Thus, the MOF-derived ZrO₂/C nanocomposites with light weight, thin thickness, high stability, strong absorption intensity and ultra-wide absorption bandwidth exhibit huge application potential as high-performance electromagnetic wave absorption materials.