Electromagnetic and microwave absorption properties of Ti3SiC2/AgNWs/ acrylic acid resin composite coatings with FSS incorporation

In this work, Ti3SiC2/AgNWs composite powders were synthesized by an alcohol thermal reaction method and added in acrylic epoxy resin to prepare a microwave absorption coating. The characteristics of the composite powders and coatings were analyzed. XRD results verified the successful preparation of AgNWs, and SEM images revealed the AgNWs were intertwined with Ti3SiC2 powders. The introducing of AgNWs was helpful to form a conductive network inside the coatings. And the complex permittivity of the coating was enhanced with the increasing content of AgNWs. What’s more, the impedance matching condition and attenuation loss ability of the coatings were optimized, which contributed to enhancing the microwave absorbing performances. The Ti3SiC2/AgNWs/acrylic acid resin coating containing 30% AgNWs exhibited the optimum microwave absorption performance. For the coating with 2.0 mm thickness, the lowest RL value of − 31.2 dB was obtained at 10.34 GHz, and the effective absorption bandwidth has reached to 3.22 GHz (9.18–12.4 GHz). After incorporating with frequency selective surface (FSS), the microwave absorption performance in the low frequency range is significantly enhanced. The results show that the combination of Ti3SiC2/AgNWs with FSS can tailor the absorption bandwidth and develop a novel microwave absorbing material.