In-situ growth of FeCoNi nanoparticles onto 1D bamboo fiber carbon for enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption

Transformation of biomass wastes or residues into functional carbon materials is one of the main approaches to improve their added value and utilization rate. In this work, an example of discarded bamboo fibers was used to fabricate trimetallic functionalized 1D carbon composite with excellent electromagnetic wave (EW) absorption performances, via a simple solvothermal-carbonization method. When the thickness is below 2.0 mm, the composite has a minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of −61.6 dB and a specific RL value of −253 dB mg−1 mm−1, as well as an effective absorption band of 5.4 GHz at a low mass loading of 15 wt%. Such good performances are attributed to the synergetic effect of dielectric loss from bamboo fiber carbon and magnetic loss from Fe–Co–Ni interaction that greatly improved the impedance matching. In addition, bamboo fibers with rough surface could endow ample core-shell FeCoNi nanoparticles to uniform embed, which brings large number of interfaces and defects for the composite to enhance the electromagnetic loss capacity. This work provides a trimetallic compositing idea and a sustainable design approach for using biomass wastes to produce stable and efficient EW absorption materials.