Microwave-assisted fabrication of sea cucumber-like hollow structured composite for high-performance electromagnetic wave absorption

Over the past few decades, extensive usage of electronic devices have led to the ubiquitous occurrence of electromagnetic waves, which have posed a significant hazard to human health and surrounding environment. Most of the currently developed electromagnetic wave absorption materials present serious drawbacks and it is highly desired to develop effective strategies to address these problems. Herein, we fabricated a sea cucumber-like hollow structured fibrous composite based on facile chemical polymerization and fast microwave calcination. The formation of multi-shell hybrid structure exhibited excellent electromagnetic wave absorption (EMWA) performance. Specifically, the composite sample showed a minimum reflection loss (R L ) value of −41.4 dB at 7.3 GHz due to the suitable impedance match resulting from a good balance between the magnetic loss and dielectric loss. In addition, the existence of special hollow structure can enhance the absorption intensity and a wide range of (3.5–18 GHz) wave absorption (<−10 dB) can be achieved because of repeated shell scattering and multiple reflection both in the cavity and between the interlacing hybrid nanofibers. This work demonstrates not only an easy, fast, eco-friendly, cost-effective but also versatile synthesis strategy to design novel EMWA materials with advanced structures and excellent performance.