Polyvinylpyrrolidone induced uniform coating of nickel nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes for efficient microwave absorption

He Sun; Shuang-Qin Yi; Nan Li; Kang-Kang Zou; Jie Li; Ling Xu; Yue-Yi Wang; Ding-Xiang Yan; Zhong-Ming Li

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.06.109

Polyvinylpyrrolidone induced uniform coating of nickel nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes for efficient microwave absorption

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Nov:649:501-509. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.06.109. Epub 2023 Jun 17.

Authors

He Sun¹, Shuang-Qin Yi¹, Nan Li², Kang-Kang Zou², Jie Li¹, Ling Xu³, Yue-Yi Wang⁴, Ding-Xiang Yan², Zhong-Ming Li¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
² School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
³ School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China. Electronic address: lingxu@scu.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China. Electronic address: yueyi.wang@scu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37356151
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.06.109

Abstract

The impedance matching performance of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be effectively enhanced by developing a uniform magnetic impedance matching layer, which can take on critical significance in achieving the desirable microwave absorption (MA) performance. To obtain a uniform coating of Nickel (Ni) nanoparticles on CNTs, several methods have been developed (e.g., the γ-irradiation technique, electroless deposition, as well as microwave welding method). However, the intricate and complicated conditions of the above-mentioned methods limit their wide application. Therefore, controlling the distribution of Ni nanoparticles with the aid of a concise and effective method remains a great challenge. Herein, in view of the uniform dispersion effect of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on CNTs and its complexation with Ni ions, uniform coating of Ni nanoparticles on CNTs is well developed after it is introduced in the hydrothermal process. The prepared Ni/CNTs composites exhibited excellent MA performance in comparison with those of reported Ni/CNTs composites for the ideal impedance matching performance and microwave attenuation ability. When the filler content was only 15 wt%, the minimum reflection loss (RL_min) reached -39.5 dB, and the effective bandwidth (EB) with RL < -10 dB reached 5.2 GHz at the thickness of 1.15 mm. A scalable strategy of regulating the distribution of Ni nanoparticles and preparing a lightweight microwave absorber based on CNTs was developed in this study, which can serve as a vital guideline for preparing novel MA composite materials.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes; Microwave absorption; Nickel; Polyvinylpyrrolidone; Uniform coating.