Structure engineering by Zn sublimation to enhance electromagnetic wave absorption performance of SiC/C nanofibers

One-dimensional materials are broadly applied in electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption due to their fast electron transport paths. Herein, SiC/C nanofibers (SiC/C NFs) with rough surface and fluffy structure were prepared by electrospinning, using zinc acetylacetone as a structural modifier. The morphology and microstructure of the as-prepared fibers were changed by Zn sublimation during heat treatment process, leading to significantly improve their dielectric parameters and EMW absorption performance. The minimum reflection loss (RL, dB) of the SiC/C NFs/paraffin with a filling ratio of 15 wt% was −46.77 dB, and effective absorption bandwidth (EAB, RL < −10 dB) reached 5.84 GHz at 1.96 mm. The delightful performance was mainly attributed to the fluffy microstructure caused by the Zn sublimation, the fast electron transport paths established by the fibers, and the enhanced polarization loss brought by effective heterogeneous interfaces. Therefore, a referable strategy was put forward structural engineering for the absorber of SiC/C NFs.