Enhancing the microwave absorption properties of amorphous CoO nanosheet-coated Co (hexagonal and cubic phases) through interfacial polarizations

Abstract Core-shell flower-like composites were successfully prepared by a simple polyol method. These composites were formed by coating dual-phased (face-centered cubic [fcc] and hexagonal close-packed [hcp]) Co with amorphous CoO nanosheets. The microwave absorption properties of the flower-like Co@CoO paraffin composites with various Co@CoO amounts were then investigated. Results showed that the paraffin-based composite containing 70 wt% flower-like Co@CoO displayed excellent microwave absorption properties (R E  = 24.74 dB·GHz/mm). The minimum reflection loss of –30.4 dB was obtained at 16.1 GHz with a small thickness of 1.5 mm, and 1.5 mm bandwidth reached 4.6 GHz (13.4–18 GHz) below –10 dB (90% microwave absorption). The excellent microwave absorption properties of flower-like Co@CoO are attributed to the synergetic effect between magnetic loss and dielectric loss, and the magnetic loss makes a main contribution to absorption. The core–shell flower-like structures with dual Co phases also contributed to microwave absorption. The amorphous CoO nanosheets were able to generate multiple reflections and exhibit scattering. In addition, the novel absorption mechanism that enhanced interfacial polarization was proposed. This enhancement resulted from the presence of interfaces between the hcp and fcc phases and between the core–shell Co@CoO composites.