Porous cobalt ferrite microspheres decorated two-dimensional MoS2 as an efficient and wideband microwave absorber

In this article, the CoFe2O4/MoS2 composites have been well constructed via a facial hydrothermal method, from which the porous CoFe2O4 microspheres were embedded into MoS2 ultrathin nanosheets. As a typical two-dimensional transition metal sulfide, MoS2 with high electrical conductivity and flexible properties is expected to exhibit high dielectric loss and magnetic loss when combined with magnetic material CoFe2O4. Meanwhile, the unique hierarchical structure of as-synthesized MoS2 nanoflowers is conducive to scattering and reflection of electromagnetic waves, and endows designed composites with competitive microwave absorption properties. Notably, although the saturation magnetization of MoS2/CoFe2O4 composites is significantly decreased compared to pure CoFe2O4 microspheres, the coercivity still maintains a high value of 626.1 Oe. As expected, the results demonstrate that as-fabricated MoS2/CoFe2O4 composites do have superior microwave absorption properties in comparison with CoFe2O4 and MoS2. It is found that the complex permittivity is enhanced with increasing filling ratio from 45 wt% to 60 wt%, which is helpful for obtaining a moderate permittivity value. When the filling ratio is 50 wt%, the MoS2/CoFe2O4 composites exhibit a minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of − 53.1 dB at 12.08 GHz when the thickness is 2.5 mm. An effective absorption bandwidth less than − 10 dB of 6.61 GHz from 11.28 to 17.89 GHz is achieved with a thin thickness of 2.2 mm, almost covering the whole Ku-band. The improvement in microwave absorption properties can be ascribed to the synergistic effect of the magnetic CoFe2O4 and dielectric MoS2. The impedance matching characteristic and interfacial polarization are significantly optimized by inserting CoFe2O4 spheres onto the surface of MoS2 nanosheets. Considering the excellent performance of as-fabricated MoS2/CoFe2O4 composites, it is believed that the MoS2-based composites can be applied as a promising candidate of highly effective microwave absorbers with strong absorption intensity and broad absorption frequency.