Lightweight dielectric-magnetic synergistic necklace-shaped Co@NCP/carbon nanofiber composites for enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption

In order to solve the problem of impedance mismatch of carbon fiber absorbing materials, it is crucial to create a carbon-based absorbing material with a special structure, synergistic magnetic and dielectric properties. In this paper, necklace-shaped Co@N-doped carbon polyhedron/carbon nanofiber (Co@NCP/CNF) composites with synergistic magnetic and dielectric properties are successfully fabricated by electrospinning. Compared with Co@NCP and CNF, the optimal minimum reflection loss of Co@NCP/CNF composite is −66.14 dB at 2.89 mm and the maximum effective absorption bandwidth is 6.24 GHz (11.76–18.00 GHz) at 2.25 mm at a low filler load of 10 wt%. The necklace-like structure, the coupling effect of dielectric and magnetic materials and the heterogeneous interface form multiple polarizations, conductive losses and multiple loss mechanisms to optimize impedance matching and attenuation performance, which is conducive to excellent absorption performance. More importantly, the radar cross section (RCS) reduction is as high as 24.02 dB m², which has proven to have a good absorption effect in actual application environments. This work combines the advantages of Co@NCP and CNF very well, which provides guidance for designing EM waves nanocomposite fiber absorbers with lightweight and strong absorbing properties.