Bio-inspired fabrication of hierarchical Ni-Fe-P coated skin collagen fibers for high-performance microwave absorption.

Abstract

In the present investigation, skin collagen fiber (CF) with a well defined hierarchical 3D fibrous structure was employed for the bio-inspired fabrication of high-performance microwave absorption materials. The hierarchical 3D structure of the CF was retained in the CF@Ni-Fe-P composites, and the formation of the Ni-Fe-P coating on the CF surface was identified by XRD and XPS analysis. Based on the electromagnetism parameter measurements, the maximum reflection loss (RL) of the CF@Ni-Fe-P composites reached -31.0 dB, and the width of the absorption band where reflection loss values exceeded -10.0 dB covered the whole Ku-band and some parts of the X-band (9.5-18.0 GHz). The complex permittivity and complex permeability measurements indicated that electronic loss and magnetic loss were involved in the CF@Ni-Fe-P composites for microwave absorption. In addition, due to the magnetic properties of the Ni-Fe-P coating, these CF@Ni-Fe-P composites exhibited excellent magnetic characteristics with high saturation magnetization and low coercivity values. The present investigation indicates a new possibility for the bio-matrix-based fabrication of high-performance microwave absorbing materials with lightweight and efficient absorption properties.