Lightweight and robust Ti3C2Tx/carbon nanotubes foam with tuneable and highly efficient microwave absorption performance

Abstract

In this study, a lightweight and robust Ti3C2Tx/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) foam (TCF) was fabricated using HCl-induced self-assembly, followed by vacuum freeze-drying. The electrical conductivity and mechanical elasticity of the TCF was higher than those of monolithic Ti3C2Tx foams. This was ascribed to the incorporation of CNTs into Ti3C2Tx preventing the stacking of the Ti3C2Tx nanosheets and producing a well-developed three-dimensional honeycomb-like porous network structure, which considerably improved impedance matching, promoted multiple reflection loss, increased conduction loss and polarisation loss, thus imparting remarkable microwave absorption properties to the TCF. The 1.72 and 1.92 mm thick TCF samples with absorber loadings of 4 wt%, which were obtained by immersing TCF into molten paraffin, followed by cutting it into coaxial rings, presented an optimum reflection loss of −48.8 dB and a maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 5.44 GHz, respectively. Moreover, upon increasing the thickness of the TCF samples from 1.52 to 4.92 mm, the EAB could be regulated from 4.16 to 18 GHz, respectively. In this study, we developed a facile method for fabricating a lightweight and robust TCF, which met the ‘light, thin, broad, and strong’ criteria and presented a broad EAB and remarkable dissipation capability, for microwave absorption materials.