Synthesis of CuCo2S4@Expanded Graphite with crystal/amorphous heterointerface and defects for electromagnetic wave absorption

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 5951 - 11
• Main Authors: Tang, Zhimeng, Xu, Lei, Xie, Cheng, Guo, Lirong, Zhang, Libo, Guo, Shenghui, Peng, Jinhui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23.09.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/1023/1025; 639/301/299; Absorbers; Absorption; Amorphous materials; Carbon; Cations; Crystal defects; Design defects; Dipoles; Electromagnetic properties; Electromagnetic radiation; Flowers; Graphite; Heterostructures; Humanities and Social Sciences; Impedance; Impedance matching; Metal concentrations; Metal ions; Morphology; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Three dimensional flow
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41697-6

The remarkable advantages of heterointerface and defect engineering and their unique electromagnetic characteristics inject infinite vitality into the design of advanced carbon-matrix electromagnetic wave absorbers. However, understanding the interface and dipole effects based on microscopic and macroscopic perspectives, rather than semi-empirical rules, can facilitate the design of heterointerfaces and defects to adjust the impedance matching and electromagnetic wave absorption of the material, which is currently lacking. Herein, CuCo 2 S 4 @Expanded Graphite heterostructure with multiple heterointerfaces and cation defects are reported, and the morphology, interfaces and defects of component are regulated by varying the concentration of metal ions. The results show that the 3D flower-honeycomb morphology, the crystal-crystal/amorphous heterointerfaces and the abundant cation defects can effectively adjust the conductive and polarization losses, achieve the impedance matching balance of carbon materials, and improve the absorption of electromagnetic wave. For the sample CEG-6, the effective absorption of Ku band with RL min of −72.28 dB and effective absorption bandwidth of 4.14 GHz is realized at 1.4 mm, while the filler loading is only 7.0 wt. %. This article reports on the establishment of potential relationship between crystal-crystal/amorphous heterointerfaces, cation defects, and the impedance matching of carbon materials. Heterointerface and defect promote the development of electromagnetic wave absorbers. Here, the authors show the 3D flower-honeycomb CuCo 2 S 4 @Expanded Graphite heterostructure, report the mechanism of crystal-crystal/amorphous heterointerfaces and cation defects on electromagnetic wave absorption.