Neural-structured Co@C/MWCNTs nanocomposites with low-frequency microwave absorption and corrosion resistance

The development of stealth materials with both efficient corrosion resistance and low-frequency microwave absorption is highly necessary. In this work, neural-structured Co@C/MWCNTs nanocomposites were successfully synthesized through a facile co-precipitation method, followed by a subsequent pyrolysis process. By adjusting the pyrolysis temperature, the pore structure, crystallinity, degree of graphitization, and electromagnetic parameters of the material were optimized. This optimization achieved a multi-mechanism synergistic effect in the low-frequency region (C-band), including impedance matching, dielectric loss, conductive loss, and magnetic loss. The results indicated that NCN-700 achieved a minimum reflection loss ( RL min ) of −64.31 dB at 4.88 GHz. Additionally, the neural-structured Co@C/MWCNTs nanocomposites exhibited significant effectiveness in low-frequency radar stealth applications, while also displaying superior corrosion resistance, self-corrosion potential ( E corr  = 0.52 V), and self-corrosion current density ( I corr  = 2.58 × 10 −6  A/cm 2 ). These findings suggest the promising potential for neural-structured Co@C/MWCNTs nanocomposites in applications related to low-frequency microwave absorption and corrosion protection.