Template-Free Synthesis of ‘Wool-Ball’ Like Hollow CuS Structures Can Effectively Suppress Electromagnetic Radiation: A Mechanistic Insight

Lightweight and easy to fabricate and integrate microwave absorbers are in great demand both in commercial space as well as in stealth applications given the surge in the use of wireless communication. In the last decade, research on designing polymer nanocomposites based microwave absorbers containing magnetic and conducting nanoparticles have swollen significantly however, a clear mechanistic insight on the usage of semiconductors is far away. Herein, the potential of ‘wool-ball’ like hollow semiconductor (CuS, copper sulfide) structures is explored for microwave absorption and a mechanistic insight is proposed based on the experimental evidence. The facile synthesis approach, unique morphological structure, and optical properties make this semiconductor (CuS) quite attractive for the proposed application. In addition, the systematic analysis reveals that this material has the potential to replace the conventional conducting or magnetic nanoparticles, due to its favorable skin depth and microwave attenu...