Hierarchical porous carbon derived from green cyclodextrin metal-organic framework and its application in microwave absorption

γ-cyclodextrin (CD)-metal-organic framework (MOF)-K is developed as a new kind of green template for the preparation of hierarchical porous carbon (HPC). Three-level porous structure (micro-, meso-, and macro-pores) has been successful constructed by calcined γ-CD-MOF-K at 600°C. The fabricated carbon (HPC-600) shows good microwave adsorption ability due to its unique hierarchical porous structure (macropores allow microwave enter the interior of the absorbents, and then micro- and meso-pores attenuate the incident microwave effectively by multiple reflections and polarization loss caused.) The minimum reflection loss (RL) is − 23.5 dB and the effective absorption bandwidth (EAB, RL≤− 10 dB) is 4.3 GHz. This work provides a good reference for efficient and environment-friendly microwave absorbents. In addition, the applications of HPC-600 may further expand to adsorption, sensing and supercapacitors due to the hierarchically porous structure.