Enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption of worm-like hollow porous MnO@C/CNTs composites

MnO@C/CNTs compounds with adjustable thickness to achieve excellent electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption performance are successfully fabricated by combining a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and carbonization process. The obtained worm hollow MnO@C/CNTs nanostructures have a synergistic effect between the MnO microspheres and the carbon shell layers, and a specific amount of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can improve the overall conductivity of the composite material, resulting in multipolar polarization, surface polarization and concomitant relaxation. Under the optimized state, the MnO@C/CNTs composites present the best EMW absorption performance, with the reflection loss (RL) value of -60.5 dB and the effective absorption bandwidth (<-10 dB) of 14.2 GHz from 3.8 to 18.0 GHz. Our results indicate that MnO@C/CNTs combined microspheres are promising candidates for EMW absorption applications. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.