Investigation on the electromagnetic and broadband microwave absorption properties of Ti3C2 Mxene/flaky carbonyl iron composites

A high-performance microwave absorption material is highly demanded. Herein, the laminated Ti3C2 Mxene was synthesised via HF etching process, and the flaky carbonyl iron (FCI) particles were prepared by high-energy ball milling. The hybrid Ti3C2/FCI powders with different mass ratios were fabricated by ultrasonic mixing method. Electromagnetic and microwave absorption properties of the single layer Ti3C2/FCI coatings were investigated in 2–18 GHz. A broadened microwave absorption property can be realized by optimizing the Ti3C2 and FCI content. Especially, the coating with 20 wt% Ti3C2 and 40 wt% FCI loading presents the measured absorption bandwidth (RL < − 10 dB) of 8.16 GHz with the thickness of 1.0 mm. The remarkable microwave absorbing performance was attributed to the good impedance matching and moderate attenuation ability. These results indicate that the Ti3C2/FCI composites have great potential to be a broadband microwave absorbent.