Porous carbon materials for microwave absorption

With the widespread use of microwaves in the civil and military fields, lots of efforts have been made to design high-performance microwave absorption (MA) materials, which should possess thin coating thickness, low density, wide absorption bandwidth, and strong absorption. Recently, porous carbon-based materials combined with the advantages of carbon and porous microstructures have demonstrated great advances in microwave absorption, due to their ultralow density, high specific surface area, strong dielectric loss, and excellent corrosion resistance. In this review, we summarize the recent progress in porous carbon-based MA materials encompassing composition and microstructure design. Representative fabrication methods, structure characterization, and properties of materials are highlighted in detail. The corresponding electromagnetic energy attenuation mechanisms, especially the effects of porous microstructures, are discussed as well. Moreover, the relative shortcomings, ongoing challenges, and perspectives at this frontier are presented.