Fabrication of CeO2/Co/C composites for high-efficiency electromagnetic wave absorption

CeO2/Co/C composites have been successfully prepared by a template method. When being applied as electromagnetic (EM) wave absorbers, CeO2/Co/C composites exhibit stronger EM wave absorption properties than Co/C and CeO2/C composites. The enhanced performance can be attributed to the unique structures of CeO2/Co/C composites, in which the synergistic effect of conductance loss, polarization loss together with magnetic loss play an important role for improving the EM wave absorption properties. Additionally, the CeO2/Co/C composites own more heterogeneous interfaces and high porosity, which promotes the continuous occurrence of interface polarization and dipole polarization, resulting in increased multiple scattering. The CeO2/Co/C composites show a RLmin of − 55.02 dB and an EAB of 3.29 GHz at the matching thickness of 2.82 mm. This work provides an effective strategy for constructing CeO2/Co/C composites for microwave absorbing material with high performances.