Flexible microwave absorbing fabrics woven by high-strength graphene-based hybrid fibers with broadband electromagnetic response

Abstract

Fabrics, a class of carriers, have been pioneered in electromagnetic protection, but their microwave absorbing potential has not been fully explored for a considerable period. Herein, aramid nanofibers (ANFs) enhanced reduced graphene oxide fabrics (ANF/rGO fabrics) were synthesized by wet spinning-chemical reduction. The ANF/rGO fabrics can achieve the minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of −15.8 dB with a thickness of 2.7 mm. On this basis, ANF/rGO fabrics grown with polyaniline (ANF/rGO-PANi fabrics) through in-situ doping polymerization were obtained. Polyaniline compensates for the lack of conductivity of the dielectric fabrics, bringing higher impedance matching and attenuation capability. The corresponding RLmin can reach −52.3 dB under 2.9 mm and the effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) increases to 6 GHz covering the whole Ku band under 2.5 mm. The fabrics woven by high-strength graphene-based hybrid fibers proposed in this study provide a new angle to achieve high-efficiency microwave absorption.