Dielectric resonance of composites containing randomly distributed ZrB2 particles with continuous dual-peak microwave absorption

Substantial efforts have been devoted to the elaborate component and microstructure design of absorbents (inclusions) in microwave absorbing (MA) composite materials. However, the mesoscopic architecture of composites also plays a significant role in prescribing their electromagnetic properties, which is rarely explored in studies of MA materials. Herein, a composite containing randomly distributed ZrB2 particles is fabricated to offer a mesoscopic cluster configuration, which produces dielectric resonance. The resonance disappears and reoccurs when ZrB2 is coated with insulating and semiconductive ZrO2 layers, respectively, suggesting that it is a plasmon resonance excited by electron transport between ZrB2 particles in clusters rather than any intrinsic resonance of the materials constituting the composite. The resonance strength can be regulated by controlling the quantity of electron transport between particles, which is accomplished by gradually increasing the insulating ZrO2-coated ZrB2 ratio, x, to disturb the electron transport in ternary disordered composites containing ZrB2 and insulating ZrO2-coated ZrB2. When x exceeds 0.7, the electron transport is cut off completely and the resonance thus disappears. The resonance induces double quarter-wavelength (1/4λ) interference cancellations or resonance absorption coupled with 1/4λ interference cancellation, giving rise to continuous dual-peak absorption. This work highlights the significance of mesoscopic architectures of composites in MA material design, which can be exploited to prescribe electromagnetic properties.