Radar-Terahertz-Infrared Compatible Stealth Coaxial Silver Nanowire@Carbon Nano-Cable Aerogel

Achieving multi-spectrum compatible stealth in radar-terahertz-infrared bands with robust performance has great prospects for both military and civilian applications. However, the progress of materials encounters substantial challenges due to the significant variability in frequency coupling properties across different electromagnetic wave bands. Here, this work presents the design of a multi-scale structure and fabricates a lightweight aerogel (silver nanowire@carbon, AgNW@C) consisting of a regular coaxial nano-cable, with silver nanowire as the core and amorphous-graphitized hybrid carbon as the outer-layer. The design utilizes the one-dimensional conductive network and electric coupling heterogeneous interface, the low infrared emission of silver nanowires, and the thermal insulation caused by three-dimensional pore structure found in aerogels. This conception achieves the long-standing goal of multi-spectrum compatible stealth in an integrated material. The AgNW@C aerogel exhibits an optimal reflection loss of -66.50 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth of 8.80 GHz in the gigahertz band, while an average total shielding performance of 71.92 dB and over 50.00 dB reflection loss in the terahertz band. Furthermore, the AgNW@C aerogel demonstrates remarkable thermal infrared stealth capabilities with a low infrared emissivity of 0.28 and thermal insulation up to 150 °C under 200 °C. These exceptional multispectral stealth properties allow the aerogel for potential applications in military camouflage technology and electromagnetic protection.