Construction of the N, S co-doped C/FeS2 materials for low thickness and high-efficiency microwave absorption

Research into electromagnetic wave-absorbing materials is essential to tackle the growing impact of electromagnetic wave pollution on human health and social advancement. Therefore, a method for synthesizing N,S co-doped C/FeS2 porous carbon composite absorbers (N,S@APCs) with low thickness, low filler content, and high performance is reported. The porous carbon structures were prepared by a high-temperature-hydrothermal two-step method using directly liquefied coal pitch as the carbon source. The successful doping of diatomic N and S at optimal concentrations enhances their impedance matching capacity. At the same time, forming FeS2 through the reaction between S and Fe3+ in the raw material efficiently improves the dielectric loss effect and enhances interfacial and dipole polarization effects. These factors together contribute to the strong absorption performance and low matching thickness of the fabricated N, S@APCs. At a thickness of 1.5 mm, 10 wt% of absorber filling resulted in a strong absorption performance with RLmin = -51.05 dB. Meanwhile, at a thickness of 1.7 mm, an effective absorption bandwidth of 4.76 GHz was achieved. This research offers a novel viewpoint on investigating porous carbon absorbers at low thicknesses. It serves as a reference for later investigations into polyatomic co-doped porous carbon absorbers.