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Nano Research 2023, 16(7): 10175-10182 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5579-0
Research Article | Issue | Published: 13 April 2023

Hydrogel-based optically and mechanically manipulable broadband microwave absorber

Show Author's Information Xiqiao Chen1,2,  Lin Du2,  Guobao Jiang1,  Zhuang Wu2,  Yingchang Zou1,  Yanhong Zou2( )
School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Changsha University, Changsha 410022, China
School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Keywords:
optical properties, microwave absorption, mechanical properties, polyacrylamide hydrogel
Topics:
Microwave sensors
Cite this article:
Chen X, Du L, Jiang G, et al. Hydrogel-based optically and mechanically manipulable broadband microwave absorber. Nano Research, 2023, 16(7): 10175-10182. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5579-0
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Abstract Full text About this article

Microwave absorbers with unique optical and mechanical performance are urgent for complex electromagnetic environment. Here, we demonstrate the mechanically flexible, optically transparent, and microwave-absorbing polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogel, in which the polar water molecules with high polarization contribute to the efficient microwave attenuation, but the binding between water molecules and PAM will slow down the orientation polarization of polar molecules. Meanwhile, the dominated dielectric property of water molecules in PAM hydrogel determines that the molecules displacement in polymer mixture is feasible for manipulating permittivity. Besides, by decreasing temperature, the flexible and transparent hydrogel will switch to rigid and opaque state as the phase conversion between amorphous and polycrystal state. By constructing structures with such hydrogel, the obtained absorber also exhibits the optical and mechanical switchable properties, covering the effective absorption within 5.7–18 GHz. This work provides an effective method to fabricate optically and mechanically manipulable microwave absorbers for intelligent electromagnetic stealth systems.


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About this article

Hydrogel-based optically and mechanically manipulable broadband microwave absorber

Show Author's information Xiqiao Chen1,2, Lin Du2, Guobao Jiang1, Zhuang Wu2, Yingchang Zou1, Yanhong Zou2( )
School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Changsha University, Changsha 410022, China
School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China

Abstract

Microwave absorbers with unique optical and mechanical performance are urgent for complex electromagnetic environment. Here, we demonstrate the mechanically flexible, optically transparent, and microwave-absorbing polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogel, in which the polar water molecules with high polarization contribute to the efficient microwave attenuation, but the binding between water molecules and PAM will slow down the orientation polarization of polar molecules. Meanwhile, the dominated dielectric property of water molecules in PAM hydrogel determines that the molecules displacement in polymer mixture is feasible for manipulating permittivity. Besides, by decreasing temperature, the flexible and transparent hydrogel will switch to rigid and opaque state as the phase conversion between amorphous and polycrystal state. By constructing structures with such hydrogel, the obtained absorber also exhibits the optical and mechanical switchable properties, covering the effective absorption within 5.7–18 GHz. This work provides an effective method to fabricate optically and mechanically manipulable microwave absorbers for intelligent electromagnetic stealth systems.

Keywords: optical properties, microwave absorption, mechanical properties, polyacrylamide hydrogel

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 02 December 2022
Revised: 25 January 2023
Accepted: 12 February 2023
Published: 13 April 2023
Issue date: July 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2023

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62101073), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (Nos. 2021JJ30154 and 2022JJ40127), Scientific Research Project of Hunan Provincial Education Department (No. 21B0557), and Development and Reform Commission of Hunan Province 2021 Innovative Research and Development Project (No. 10: Preparation and Electromagnetic Properties of Biochar Composites).

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