Tunable electromagnetic and broadband absorption of FeNi decorated SiC nanowires absorbents

With the widespread use of wireless communication technologies, high-performance, easy-to-volume-produce electromagnetic (EM) absorption materials are in urgent need. In this work, FeNi nanosheets decorated silicon carbide nanowires (SiC_nws) hybrids are prepared by a simple in-situ reduction method. Microstructural studies show that FeNi nanosheets are uniformly distributed on the surface of SiC_nws, with some other incompact spherical FeNi nanoparticles dissociating out of SiC_nws. Benefiting from multidimensional heterostructures and the synergistic effect of multiple loss mechanisms, the SiC_nws@FeNi hybrids exhibit enhanced EM absorption performance compared to pure SiC_nws. It is worth noting that the excessive introduction of magnetic FeNi leads to a degeneration of EM absorption in the SiC _nws@FeNi-0.6 sample due to the decline of attenuation capability and impedance mismatch. As a result, the SiC_nws@FeNi-0.4 sample exhibits the best EM absorption with an effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 5.4 GHz at only 1.7 mm, and the minimum reflection loss reaches up to − 50.76 dB at 2.8 mm. Considering their simple preparation method and excellent EM absorption performance, the as-prepared SiC_nws@FeNi composite material is expected to be a candidate material for EM absorption with practical application prospect.