Robust, Flexible, and Superhydrophobic Fabrics for High-Efficiency and Ultrawide-Band Microwave Absorption

Zhong Zhang; Yaxin Meng; Xinrui Fang; Qing Wang; Xungai Wang; Haitao Niu; Hua Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.eng.2024.03.009

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Engineering ›› 2024, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (10) : 161-171. DOI: 10.1016/j.eng.2024.03.009

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Article

Robust, Flexible, and Superhydrophobic Fabrics for High-Efficiency and Ultrawide-Band Microwave Absorption

Zhong Zhang^a^,^c ,
Yaxin Meng^a ,
Xinrui Fang^a^,^c ,
Qing Wang^a^,^c ,
Xungai Wang^b^,^* ,
Haitao Niu^a^,^* ,
Hua Zhou^a^,^c^,^*

Author information +

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Abstract

Microwave absorption (MA) materials are essential for protecting against harmful electromagnetic radiation. In this study, highly efficient and ultrawide-band microwave-absorbing fabrics with superhydrophobic surface features were developed using a facile dip-coating method involving in situ graphene oxide (GO) reduction, deposition of TiO₂ nanoparticles, and subsequent coating of a mixture of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and octadecylamine (ODA) on polyester fabrics. Owing to the presence of hierarchically structured surfaces and low-surface-energy materials, the resultant reduced GO (rGO)/TiO₂-ODA/PDMS-coated fabrics demonstrate superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 159° and sliding angle of 5°. Under the synergistic effects of conduction loss, interface polarization loss, and surface roughness topography, the optimized fabrics show excellent microwave absorbing performances with a minimum reflection loss (RL_min) of −47.4 dB and a maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EAB_max) of 7.7 GHz at a small rGO loading of 6.9 wt%. In addition, the rGO/TiO₂-ODA/PDMS coating was robust, and the coated fabrics could withstand repeated washing, soiling, long-term ultraviolet irradiation, and chemical attacks without losing their superhydrophobicity and MA properties. Moreover, the coating imparts self-healing properties to the fabrics. This study provides a promising and effective route for the development of robust and flexible materials with microwave-absorbing properties.

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Keywords

Microwave absorption / Superhydrophobic / Fabrics / Coating / Self-healing

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Zhong Zhang, Yaxin Meng, Xinrui Fang, Qing Wang, Xungai Wang, Haitao Niu, Hua Zhou. Robust, Flexible, and Superhydrophobic Fabrics for High-Efficiency and Ultrawide-Band Microwave Absorption. Engineering, 2024, 41(10): 161‒171 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2024.03.009

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