Construction of Heterogeneous Wave−Absorbing Structures Inspired by Cucumbers

Abstract

One−dimensional carbon nanofibers (CNFs) hold great potential as lightweight microwave absorbers, mainly attributed to their remarkable plasticity and stability. However, the high electrical conductivity unfortunately results in significant surface reflection of microwaves, which limits the application of CNFs. Herein, this research innovatively prepared cucumber−shaped multi−channel CNFs (MC−CNFs−X). By adopting a sacrificial template method, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and metal particles were successfully incorporated into the structure. The formed heterogeneous interfaces between MC−CNFs−X, CNTs, and metal particles effectively boost dielectric loss. Meanwhile, the multi−channel and heterogeneous structures enhance the scattering of microwaves. Significantly, by simply adjusting the carbonization temperature, the microstructure and microwave absorption (MA) performance of the materials can be precisely regulated. Specifically, under the carbonization temperature of 1100 ℃, MC−CNFs−1100 demonstrates excellent impedance matching characteristics and strong microwave attenuation performance, laying groundwork for high−performance lightweight microwave absorbing materials (MAMs).