A facile self-template strategy for synthesizing 1D porous Ni@C nanorods towards efficient microwave absorption

Ni@C composites, which simultaneously possess porous, core-shell and 1D nanostructures have been synthesized with a facile self-template strategy. The precursors were obtained by a hydrothermal process using NiCl₂ · 6H₂O and nitrilotriacetic acid as the starting material and then annealed at 400 °C, 500 °C, and 600 °C. The Ni@C composites annealed at 500 °C display a nanorod feature with a length of ∼3 μm and diameter of 230-500 nm. In addition, about 3 nm carbon shells and 4 nm Ni cores can be found in Ni@C nanorods. Attributed to the interconnected mesoporous texture in nanorods, strengthened interfacial polarization from core-shell structure, and better impedance matching benefiting from a great deal of pores, Ni@C nanorod composites exhibit perfect microwave absorption performance. The minimum reflection loss (RL) value of -26.3 dB can be gained at 10.8 GHz with a thickness of 2.3 mm. Moreover, the effective bandwidth (RL ≤ -10 dB) can be achieved, 5.2 GHz (12.24-17.4 GHz) under an absorber thickness of 1.8 mm, indicating its great potential in the microwave absorption field. Considering this technique is facile and effective, our study may provide a good reference for the synthesis of 1D carbon-based microwave absorbers with core-shell nanostructure.