Preparation and wave-absorbing properties of ultra-light hollow cubic carbon coated with polyaniline composites

In this study, Sodium chloride coated with phenolic resin was carbonized and template removed to obtain the hollow carbon structure. Then, polyaniline was polymerized in situ to obtain hollow cubic carbon coated with polyaniline composite. The results showed that morphology and absorption properties both changed with the change of the hydrochloric acid concentration and carbon-based mass. The hollow cubic carbon point coated with polyaniline composite has a minimum reflection loss of − 43.44 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth of 4.86 GHz at a very low loading capacity of 4 wt% and a thin thickness of 2 mm. The minimum reflection loss of the hollow cubic carbon continuous coated with polyaniline composite is as high as − 85.23 dB and the effective absorption bandwidth is above 4.23 GHz at a low load of 10 wt% and a thin thickness of 1.5 mm. The hollow core–shell structure and the heterogeneous interface construction brought by PANI work together improve the electromagnetic wave attenuation ability and matching ability greatly, which is the key to obtain excellent properties of the materials.