Fabrication of MOF-rGO aerogels to enhance electromagnetic wave absorption by adjusting the morphology and structure of MOFs by electron transfer

Graphene and its derivatives have become the star materials in the field of electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption, and have been widely studied because of their unique structure and excellent properties. However, the high electrical conductivity of graphene-based material leads to poor impedance matching performances, so it often needs to be annealed at high temperatures, which is a intricate procedure and cause the waste of energy. Herein, we develop a convenient strategy to synthesize metal organic framework-reduced graphene oxide (MOF-rGO) aerogels through facile hydrothermal and freeze drying procedure. Firstly, the excessive electrons on graphene can be transferred to MOF, in this way, no annealing is needed. Secondly, the morphology and structure of MOF can be regulated electronically to endow the material with rich heterojunction interfaces and enhance its interfacial polarization. Thirdly, the synthesized aerogels satisfy the requirements of thin thickness, low density and light weight. The fabricated Ni-MOF-rGO and FeNi-MOF-rGO aerogels exhibit remarkable EMW absorption performances with strong reflection loss (RL) and broad effective absorption band (EAB) at the thickness of 2.4 (−47.8 dB and 7.84 GHz) and 2.9 mm (−48.3 dB and 8.32 GHz) whereas the filling contents are just 5 %. Moreover, the attenuation capacity of the fabricated aerogels are verified through the radar-section simulation and the interfacial polarization loss are confirmed by the COMSOL analogue simulation. In a word, this work provides a new afflatus and inspiration for the design of graphene-based EMW absorption materials.