Bio-templated fabrication of chain-spherical V2O5/C composites from dandelion fiber for high-efficiency electromagnetic wave absorption

Abstract Chain-spherical V2O5/C composites were prepared by using dandelion fibers as bio-templates through a simple vacuum-assisted immersion method, and their microstructure and electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption properties were investigated. Results indicated that the EMW absorption performance of dandelion fibers is effectively improved by introducing V2O5 and constructing chain-spherical structure. Notably, the minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of V2O5/C composites with a thickness of 2.35 mm is reached −34.05 dB at 17.52 GHz, and the maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of the composites is up to 7.52 GHz at 2.85 mm. The improvement in EMW absorption performance is mainly ascribed to the synergistic effects of the increased multiple reflections and scattering, enhanced polarization loss and conduction loss, and impedance matching characteristics. The chain-spherical V2O5/C composites exhibit great potential as promising candidates for high-performance EMW absorbers.