A low-cost lightweight microwave absorber: Silicon carbide synthesized from tissue

Abstract Recently, microwave absorbing materials have been widely used with the development of electromagnetic wave technology such as 5G communication. It is urgent to develop low-cost electromagnetic wave absorbing materials to meet the increasing civil market demand. Herein, we report a novel and simple strategy to synthesize lightweight silicon carbide microwave absorber by calcining tissue and glass microspheres at high temperature. The results show that higher synthesis temperature can improve the crystallinity of SiC, generate more whiskers and reduce the impurity content. This in turn increases the dielectric loss of the material. The products synthesized at 1600 °C have excellent microwave absorption properties. At the thickness of 1.3 mm, it achieves a reflection loss of −32.5 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth of 4.1 GHz. This study broadens the way for the potential reuse of waste paper and glass, and provides a useful reference for the preparation of low-cost microwave absorbing materials.