Graphitized nitrogen-doped porous carbon composites derived from ZIF-8 as efficient microwave absorption materials

Rational construction of profitable microstructure in carbon-based electromagnetic composites is becoming a promising strategy to reinforce their microwave absorption performance. Herein, a N-doped highly porous carbon composite derived from thermal decomposition of Zn-based MOF (ZIF-8) has been synthesized for microwave absorption applications. The maximum reflection loss (RL) of −39.7 dB could be achieved with a thickness of 4 mm and the effective absorption bandwidth was from 7.9 GHz to 12.2 GHz covered X band (8–12 GHz). By comparing the porous carbon composites derived from conventional ZIF-8, it can be validated that porous structure, degree of graphitization and graphitic-N level is the key factors to improve the microwave absorption performance by increasing dielectric loss ability. The results demonstrated that the ZIF-8 derived graphitized nitrogen-doped porous carbon composites had great potential for microwave absorption performance, which may open up a new avenue to promote the electromagnetic applications of MOF-derived carbon composites.