Tailoring electromagnetic absorption performances of TiO2/Co/carbon nanofibers through tuning graphitization degrees

Abstract Low density, high stability and strong dielectric loss capacity endow carbon-based nanocomposites with superb microwave dissipation performances. Different from grapheme or carbon nanotubes, the graphitization degrees of carbon-based composites derived from the organic precursor pyrolysis can be accurately regulated by controlling the carbonization temperature. As such, their electromagnetic properties can be easily tuned. In this work, we report the preparation of TiO2/Co/Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) through a combined approach of electrospun and carbonization at different temperatures. The nanofibers with an average diameter of 300 nm were coated by a dense layer of TiO2 and embedded by Co/CoO nanoparticles. The performance evaluation indicated the composite obtained at 700 °C exhibits remarkably strong absorption of −63.2 dB at 9.8 GHz and wide effective absorption bandwidth of 6.4 GHz with a pretty low filling rate of 15 wt%. Further analysis on the electromagnetic behaviors shows that the composite possesses regulable impedance matching characteristic and absorption performances, implying the huge application potential under various demand conditions.