Hollow porous Ni@SiC nanospheres for enhancing electromagnetic wave absorption

Multi-component and a large number of non-homogeneous interface absorbers have been proven to be the preferred choice of electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption materials. Herein, hollow porous Ni@SiC nanospheres (HPNS) were successfully constructed by combining a carbothermal reduction preparation strategy and subsequent electroless plating process. The heterogeneous dielectric/magnetic multi-component benefit to excellent EMW absorption properties through forming multiple polarizations, dielectric loss, and magnetic loss effects. Particularly, the HPNS at the optimal ratio with a low filler loading of 20 wt% exhibits the minimum reflection loss (RL_min) value of −62.39 dB at 13.28 GHz and the maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EAB_max) is up to 5.36 GHz (12.64–18 GHz), and the corresponding thin matching thicknesses are 1.96 mm and 1.80 mm, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum radar cross section (RCS) reduction of HPNS over PEC reaches 26.02 dB m² (1.96 mm) under far-field conditions, which means that the prepared HPNS is extraordinarily promising for practical applications. This work guides the preparation of high-performance EMW absorbers as well as radar stealth materials.