Assembly of partially unzipped multiwalled carbon nanotubes into ultralight, highly efficient and multifunctional electromagnetic wave absorbing aerogel

Efficient electromagnetic wave absorbing materials with lightweight and multifunctional integrated applications have broad development application prospects. Carbonaceous materials are one of the promising candidates due to their low density, high conductivity, diverse structure and tunable composition. Here, we prepared nitrogen-doped graphene nanoribbon/carbon nanotube (N-GNR/CNT) hybrid aerogel by assembling and annealing partially unzipped carbon nanotubes. The remaining CNTs serve as skeletons to maintain GNR unfolding, while the unfolded GNRs serve as “wings” to interconnect and form a 3D network. The 3D network provides channels for fast electron transmission, and meanwhile GNRs offer rich edges for N doping. Benefitting from the synergistic effect of CNTs and GNRs, this aerogel shows the characteristics of ultralight, ultrathin, strong electromagnetic wave absorption and efficient joule heating. This study presents a new strategy for preparing multifunctional electromagnetic wave absorbing materials, and broadens the application of graphene nanoribbons.