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Non-magnetic hollow ZnO/C fabricated by a novel ZnO self-sacrificial template hollow engineering for efficient microwave absorption

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Abstract

The derivatives of metal–organic frameworks have been proven to be ideal candidates for microwave absorption due to their ability to form diverse microstructures of metals/heteroatom doped-carbon composites. In this study, we synthesized three types of zinc oxide (ZnO)@ZIF-8 with varying ZIF-8 shell thicknesses using ZnO colloidal spheres as sacrificial templates. Subsequently, we investigated the microwave absorption properties of a series of non-magnetic ZnO/N-doped carbon nanospheres pyrolyzed by ZnO@ZIF-8 at different temperatures. Remarkably, the non-magnetic samples (30 wt% filler loading) with a hollow structure pyrolyzed at 800 °C exhibited a broad effective absorption band exceeding 6 GHz. The excellent microwave absorbing performance of the samples pyrolyzed at 800 °C can be attributed to the reduction of the ZnO core to Zn0, anchoring it in the graphitized N-carbon layer, and the formation of an inner hollow cavity that enhances impedance matching. Therefore, this research not only provides an array of excellent dielectric-type microwave absorbing materials but also presents a novel strategy for developing lightweight and high-performance non-magnetic carbon-based microwave absorbing materials.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51672201).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Haopeng Cai, Zhenqin Lin, Chaochao Feng & Rui Tang

  2. Jiangshan Heavy Industries Research Institute Co., Ltd., China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, Xiangyang, 441000, China

    Lihua Gao

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  1. Haopeng Cai
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HC Conceptualization and Writing-Original Draft. ZL Methodology, Writing–Review & Editing and Analysis. LG Investigation. CF Software. RT Data curation.

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Correspondence to Haopeng Cai.

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Cai, H., Lin, Z., Gao, L. et al. Non-magnetic hollow ZnO/C fabricated by a novel ZnO self-sacrificial template hollow engineering for efficient microwave absorption. J Mater Sci 59, 5371–5386 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09513-8

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