Design and microwave absorption characteristics of porous lamellar hard carbon materials

Abstract

Porous lamellar hard carbon structures were synthesized using the direct hard template strategy with phenolic resin as the C source and ZnO as the template. The porosity of the hard carbon materials is adeptly fine-tuned by regulating the ZnO nanoparticle content. Notably, the introduction of porosity to lamellar hard carbon materials is shown to have a significant impact on their microwave absorption properties. A porous lamellar hard carbon material with impressive microwave absorption performance is synthesized, culminating in an optimal reflection loss of −45 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth of 4.08 GHz, even at a minimal absorber thickness of ∼2.0 mm, with a mere 16.7% filling rate. These findings illustrate how the control of porosity provides a new design avenue for tailoring the absorption characteristics for microwave absorbers. This design approach will support the further development of versatile microwave absorption solutions, helping to address the prevalence of electromagnetic pollution.