Interfacial and Defective Construction from Diverse CuS Quantum Dots toward Broadband Carbon-Based Microwave Absorber

In this study, highly monodisperse copper sulfide (CuS) quantum dots (QDs) have been successfully obtained using a ligand-chemistry strategy, and then a variety of S-deficient CuS/nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) heterointerfaces are constructed by compositional fine-tuning (Cu₉S₅ → Cu_1.96S → Cu). First-principles calculations show that the S-deficient domains of CuS QDs and N-doped domains of carbon synergistically enhance the electron transfer from CuS to NC. In addition, the finite element simulations demonstrate that the diverse CuS QDs exhibit their intrinsic size and dielectric confinement effects to precisely manipulate the electric field distortion and improve the relaxation polarization. Consequently, CuS@NC achieves excellent impedance matching and a strong loss mode dominated by dielectric polarization. Among them, CuS@NC-650 has a maximum effective absorption bandwidth of 7.7 GHz at 2.5 mm, while CuS@NC-700 features a minimum reflection loss of -66.7 dB at 13.7 GHz, respectively. Furthermore, the simulations of radar cross-sections have confirmed that the CuS@NC series is promising in the field of radar stealth.