Construction of flower-like MoS₂ decorated on Cu doped CoZn-ZIF derived N-doped carbon as superior microwave absorber

The rational design of composition nanostructures and morphologies of the carbon-based composites materials has a significant potential for tuning electromagnetic parameters and thereby improving their performance as electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbers. In this work, the flower-like Cu/Co-NC/MoS₂ (NC = N-doped carbon skeleton) composites were successfully prepared by employing CuCoZn-ZIF (ZIF = zeolitic imidazolate framework) as precursor with subsequent annealing and hydrothermal technique. The unique flower-like morphology and electromagnetic synergy strategy between components enable the as-obtained Cu/Co-NC/MoS₂ composites to exhibit outstanding microwave absorption properties. Accordingly, the minimum reflection loss of Cu/Co-NC/MoS₂ reaches −54.36 dB at 2.7 mm. When the thickness reduces to 2.2 mm, the maximum effective absorption bandwidth can be achieved as large as 6.72 GHz. This research develops useful ideas for optimizing multicomponent microwave absorbing materials.