Hierarchical polyimide-based composite foam for compatible multi-band stealth

Designing and manufacturing compatible multi-band stealth materials remains a great challenge. In this work, a silver-metalized polyimide photochromic composite foam is successfully fabricated by self-activating electroless silver-plating on the surface of the polyimide skeleton and followed by applying a photochromic coating on the upper surface. The effective loading of silver nanoparticles facilitates the rational construction of a conductive network in foam, improving the efficient dissipation of incident electromagnetic waves. In addition, the interconnected conductive network successfully endows it with an excellent Joule heating capability, which can be employed to effectively remove ice and/or mitigate the impact of water vapor on radar stealth performance in cold and wet weather. Besides, the low emissivity silver plating combined with superior thermal insulation of foam enables the material with excellent infrared stealth performance. Moreover, the modulation of self-adaptive photochromic coating brings a prominent visual stealth performance under different sunlight backgrounds. As a result, such excellent radar and infrared stealth performance combined with the adaptive color-switching capability provides the foam with great potential for preparing compatible multi-band materials.