Hierarchical carbon nanotube/nanocapsule composite via a facile arc discharge approach for high-frequency microwave absorption

Abstract

Carbon nanotube/nanocapsule composite, mainly consisted of single walled carbon nanotube bundles with a length of a few hundred nanometres and nickel encapsulated carbon nanocapsules with 5–20 nm in diameter, have been fabricated by a facile arc discharge experiment. The cross-linked nanotube bundles provide a three-dimensional porous, conductive network and the nanocapsules adhere to nanotube bundles through Van der Waals forces to form hierarchical structures, which is beneficial to the dissipation and absorption of microwaves. The calculated reflection loss curve of the composite reflects such hierarchical structures with a thin thickness of 2 mm exhibit wide absorption bandwidth at high frequency (13.0–17.8 GHz), indicating that the as-prepared carbon nanotube/nanocapsule composite is applicable in the field of microwave absorption.