Lightweight multi-dimensional MXene/Ni chain/porous carbon with the improved impedance matching for high-performance microwave absorption

Dielectric/magnetic coupling is an effective method to improve the electromagnetic (EM) absorption characteristics of wave-absorbing materials. In addition, the design of the porous structure meets the requirements of light weight of absorbing materials. In this work, Ti3C2Tx (MXene) nanosheets and Ni chains are filled into porous carbon obtained by carbonization of melamine foam to obtain MXene/Ni chain/Melamine foam-derived porous carbon (MFPC) composites with low density, high conductivity and excellent EM absorption performance. Surprisingly, the minimum reflection loss of the MFPC/M-3 reached -41.55 dB at 2.3 mm, and its effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) was 5.15 GHz. The MFPC/M-4 has the widest EAB of 5.68 GHz at 2.3 mm. High EM wave absorption performance is attributed to the dielectric/magnetic coupling, which improves the impedance matching characteristics and provides multiple scattering, interfacial polarization, conductivity loss, dipole polarization, and magnetic loss. Furthermore, composites also have lower density and higher electrical conductivity. This dielectric/magnetic coupled porous composite will have good development in the field of EM absorption.