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

Prof. Xungai Wang, Member of the Research Centre of Textiles for Future Fashion, collaborated with other researchers and published an article entitled “Robust, Flexible, and Superhydrophobic Fabrics for High-efficiency and Ultrawide-Band Microwave Absorption” in Engineering.

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 graphene oxide (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.

Read the full article in Nature Communications. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2024.03.009