Fabrication of urchin-like ZnO-MXene nanocomposites for high-performance electromagnetic absorption

The recently developed two-dimensional transition metal carbides (such as MXene) have shown amazing electrical properties. MXene and derivative two dimensional (2D) materials are widely used in electron devices, and have large potential application in electromagnetic (EM) absorber. Herein we describe a mild method to prepare an urchin-like ZnO-MXene Ti₃C₂T_x nanocomposite through a coprecipitation process. The nanocomposite delivers a substantially enhanced EM absorbing performance with an optimum reflection loss of −26.30 dB, which is significantly better than that of primitive Ti₃C₂T_x (−6.70 dB), owing to the construction of unique semiconductive networks and larger interfaces. The EM absorption performance can be effectively controlled in the range of 14.0–18.0 bands by changing the growth time of ZnO. Considering the large amount of members in MXene, this study demonstrates a new strategy applicable in maximizing their applications in EM absorbing materials.