Enhanced microwave absorption of biomass carbon/nickel/polypyrrole (C/Ni/PPy) ternary composites through the synergistic effects

Abstract With rapid advances in the portable electronics industry, the creation of microwave absorbing materials with high-performance to dissipate the unwanted electromagnetic wave is an important prerequisite. Herein, unique ternary organic-inorganic composites (C/Ni/PPy) were fabricated by hydrothermal method combined with in-situ polymerization approach. The correlation between structure, components, and microwave absorption capability is investigated in detail. The carbon matrix was prepared through a typical “carbonization-activation” procedure. Then, the PPy particles were decorated on the surface of the biomass carbon matrix incorporated with Ni particulates via an in-situ polymerization method. The microwave absorbing results suggest that the C/Ni/PPy ternary composites exhibit stronger dielectric loss and microwave absorption capabilities than C/PPy binary composites. A reflection loss of − 42.09 dB and an outstanding effective absorption bandwidth of 5.24 GHz are achieved simultaneously with a thickness of only 2.4 mm. The excellent microwave absorbing performances can be ascribed to the unique microstructure, enhanced polarization and the synergistic effects between dielectric loss and magnetic loss. The present work achieves a new paradigm to improve microwave absorption characteristics through the combination of dielectric components with magnetic materials. Furthermore, a prototype is proposed, which has broad application prospects for applications in next-generation wearable and portable electronics.