Efficient electromagnetic wave absorption by SiC/Ni/NiO/C nanocomposites

Multi-component composites consisting of SiC, Ni, NiO, and C nanoparticles (NPs) are fabricated by annealing SiC NPs and the Ni-based metal organic framework (Ni-MOF) in argon. The SiC/Ni/NiO/C nanocomposites exhibit efficient electromagnetic wave absorption (EWA) in comparison with the individual SiC NPs and Ni-MOF component. The minimal reflection loss (RL) is −50.52 dB at 13 GHz for a film thickness of 4.0 mm and the maximum bandwidth is 2.96 dB for RL < −10 dB and thickness of 2.5 mm. The outstanding absorption ability is attributed to the improved conductive paths rendered by the SiC NPs and multiple interfaces rendered by the SiC, Ni, NiO, and C NPs. As a result, interfacial polarization and multiple reflections are enhanced subsequently. This work reveals a new strategy to design and fabricate high-performance EWA materials by incorporating SiC NPs into magnetic materials.