Fabrication of high-performance electromagnetic wave absorbing SiC composites reinforced by 3D printed carbon-based nanonetwork with Fe3O4 nanoparticles

Here a free-standing and high-performance electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorber is developed by the in-situ growth of SiC into 3D-printed carbon-based scaffolds by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The porous and interconnected network of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs)/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is oriented constructed and Fe-based magnetic nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed. Accompanied by the optimization of SiC to the mechanical properties of composites, the impedance matching behavior and attenuation capacity can be regulated by reducing the electrical conductivity of the carbon-based nanonetwork. Therefore, the as-prepared composites present a minimum reflection loss (RL) value of −48.7 dB, and a 2 mm-thick absorber whose reflection loss is better than −10 dB in 11.5–15.8 GHz is also achieved. Besides, the absorbing properties of the material remained consistent after annealing at 400 °C for 4 h. The controllable fabrication of composites shows appropriately promising potential as absorbers in a high-temperature environment with considerable EMW absorption performance.