Mesoporous carbon hollow spheres as a light weight microwave absorbing material showing modulating dielectric loss

Abstract

Mesoporous carbon hollow spheres (MCHS), a kind of light weight material, were fabricated by a simple one-pot process. It is confirmed that the addition of tetrapropoxysilane (TPOS) has a distinct influence on their surface area, pore volume, porous structure and microwave absorption properties. The modulation of electromagnetic parameters within the range of 2–18 GHz can be accomplished by adjusting the pore volume of MCHS, resulting in the largest bandwidth of 6.2 GHz and a maximum reflection loss of −38.5 dB at a thickness of 2–3 mm. The enhanced microwave absorption properties are attributed to the outstanding impedance matching and strong dielectric loss. This study provides novel insights into electromagnetic wave absorption by tuning the pore volume structure.