Nanointerface engineering of cobalt sulfide/manganese sulfate hollow spheres for electromagnetic wave absorption

The CoS/MnSO4 heterostructure with hollow flower-like structure (Co-Mn-S) is fabricated through a facile method. The microspheres have diameters of 1 - 2 mu m, composed of CoS and MnSO4 center dot 5H(2)O nanoflakes. The numerous nanointerfaces are formed due to the tight contact of MnSO4 center dot 5H(2)O nanoflakes with the CoS nanoflakes. The CoS/MnSO4 heterostructure exhibits excellent electromagnetic wave absorption property with strong attenuation abilities and thin thickness. The minimal reflection loss reaches -48.0 dB at 12.4 GHz and the efficient absorption bandwidth is 3.8 GHz (10.7-14.5 GHz) with a filler loading 30 wt% at the thin thickness of 2.0 mm. In addition, even in the thin thickness (1.5-2.0 mm), the minimum reflection loss of the micronanostructure can reach -20 dB, and the efficient absorption bandwidth is 4.3 GHz at the thickness of 1.7 mm. The experimental and density functional theory calculation results indicate that the excellent electromagnetic wave absorption property of the heterostructure is ascribed to better impedance matching characteristic and enhanced dielectric loss, caused by its hollow structural feature and the interfacial polarization at the nanoscale level.