Flexible Graphene@Silica Fabric Metasurface for Electromagnetic Wave Absorption on High-Speed Aircraft

Modern high-speed aircraft require materials that can absorb electromagnetic waves (EMWs) while remaining lightweight, flexible, and resistant to extreme heat flux. Although graphene@silica fabric (G@SF) is a promising metasurface in this regard, its EMW dissipation capacity is limited by its uniform sheet resistance distribution, which leads to mismatched interfacial wave impedance. In this study, a subtractive laser "erasing" technique is applied to G@SF grown via chemical vapor deposition to develop a scalable, flexible, ultrathin (0.1 mm), and thermally robust (up to 1000 °C) metasurface with tunable impedance for aerospace EMW absorption. This metasurface is directly integrated onto the aircraft thermal-insulation layer to obtain an integrated absorber that minimizes radar reflection (down to -42 dB) without adding significant weight or altering aircraft structure. The all-inorganic design ensures excellent durability under high temperatures, high-speed airflow scouring, and mechanical stress, making it ideal for aerospace applications. The proposed method is a promising approach for fabricating next-generation EMW-absorbing materials that combine performance, resilience, and manufacturability.