Flexible CoNiZn@Ti₃CNT_x MXene@carbon fabrics with hierarchical structure for efficient electromagnetic wave absorption

The widespread application of 5G technology has significantly exacerbated concerns regarding electromagnetic radiation. However, the rigidity and lack of flexibility of traditional electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption materials make them ill-suited for protecting humans and certain specialized, complex shapes of equipment. Therefore, there is an increasing urgency to develop flexible EMW absorbing fabrics to effectively mitigate electromagnetic pollution. In this study, hierarchical structure CoNiZn@Ti₃CNT_x MXene@carbon fabrics (CoNiZn@Ti₃CNT_x@CF) were constructed from nano-flower structure CoNiZn-MOF, Ti₃CNT_x MXene and fabrics by self-assembly, in-situ growth and pyrolysis. The carbon fabric acts as a skeleton to form a 3D interconnected conductive network, in which loaded nano-flower structure CoNiZn@Ti₃CNT_x MXene (CoNiZn@Ti₃CNT_x@C) composites exists excellent dielectric loss and magnetic loss, so that EMW enters the fabric and optimizes the impedance matching, increasing the multiple reflection and scattering of EMW, thereby effectively attenuating EMW. The minimum reflection loss (RL_min) of CoNiZn@Ti₃CNT_x@CF reaches -44.51 dB at 14.88 GHz with filling ratio of 15 % and thickness of 1.50 mm and the effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of CoNiZn@Ti₃CNT_x@CF reaches 4.32 GHz (13.04–17.36 GHz) at 1.55 mm. The EAB of CoNiZn@Ti₃CNT_x@CF is expanded to 14.56 GHz (3.44–18.00 GHz) through thickness adjustment (1–5.50 mm), covering most of the S, C, X, and Ku bands. The radar cross-section (RCS) value of CoNiZn@Ti₃CNT_x@CF is 17.3 dB m² lower than the perfect electrical conductor (PEC), which effectively reduces the probability of the target being detected by the radar detector. This work provides ideas for design and development of flexible EMW absorbing materials.