One-dimensional N-doped Co@C nanowires via a dual-control strategy for excellent electromagnetic absorption at ultralow filler loading

Abstract

Currently, the preparation of electromagnetic wave absorption (EMWA) materials with low load, thin thickness, strong absorption and wide band remains an important challenge. In this work, one-dimensional (1D) N-doped Co@C nanowires with the excellent EMWA behavior have been synthesized by pyrolyzing cobalt-nitrilotriacetic acid chelate (Co-NTAC) nanowires prepared via a hydrothermal method. Then, the influences of the amount of glucose and annealing temperature on the microstructure and EMWA property of Co@C nanowires have also been investigated. Our results show that Co@C-2 exhibits a strong absorption of – 69.56 dB (absorbing 99.99999 % electromagnetic wave) with an EAB of 7.055 GHz at only 8 wt% filler loading. In addition, CST simulation shows that the maximum radar cross section (RCS) value of Co@C-2 can be reduced by 29.8 dB m2. The outstanding EMWA property is ascribed to the synergistic effect of the dielectric and magnetic loss. Moreover, the unique 1D structure of Co@C nanowires is also benefit for attenuating electromagnetic (EM) wave. Therefore, this study designed an easy dual-control strategy (by adjusting the amount of glucose and annealing temperature) to obtain the high-performance EMWA materials, which can provide an effective method for the synthesis of other absorbers.