Hierarchical core–shell BCN@CoNi@PANI with synergistic dielectric/magnetic loss for ultrawideband microwave absorption
摘要
Lightweight broadband microwave absorbers with strong attenuation remain challenging because efficient absorption requires balanced impedance matching and electromagnetic loss over a wide frequency range. Herein, hierarchical core–shell BCN@CoNi@PANI (BCNPa) composites were rationally designed by integrating BCN, CoNi alloy, and conductive PANI. BCN serves as a lightweight dielectric substrate, CoNi provides magnetic loss, and the outer PANI shell regulates dielectric response and conductive loss. The electromagnetic properties of BCNPa can be effectively tuned by adjusting the PANI content. The excellent absorption performance over 2–18 GHz originates from the synergistic effects of impedance matching, dielectric loss, magnetic loss, and hierarchical structural attenuation. Dielectric loss is mainly related to defect-induced dipole polarization, interface-related polarization relaxation, and conductive loss from the π-conjugated PANI shell, while magnetic loss arises from natural resonance, exchange resonance, and eddy current loss of CoNi. Benefiting from optimized dielectric–magnetic balance, BCNPa-2 achieves ultralow minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of − 81.4 dB at 14.12 GHz and an ultrabroad effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) covering nearly the entire measured range. This work provides an effective strategy for high-performance broadband microwave absorbers.