N-doped carbon nanotubes encapsulated NdCo micro-flakes for excellent microwave absorption and effective anti-corrosion performance

Despite rare earth compounds play a vital role in advanced technologies, creating rare earth based multifunctional material with both outstanding microwave absorption performance and superior corrosion resistance remains a significant challenge. Herein, a novel hetero-structured NdCo micro-flakes modified by N-doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was developed. The N-doped CNTs not only provided abundant heterogeneous interfaces and doping defect, but also formed a robust conductive network, which resulted in the boost dielectric loss. Besides, the in-situ grown CNTs effectively prevented the agglomeration of magnetic NdCo micro-flakes and created an intricate magnetic flux network, which further enhanced the magnetic loss. Combined with the synergistic loss mechanism and superior impedance matching, the optimized NdCo@C/CNTs-2 composite achieved exceptional microwave absorption of −66.31 dB and broad bandwidth of 4.74 GHz with an ultra-thin thickness of 1.34 mm. CST simulation confirmed the maximum RCS reduction of 26.5 dBm², further proving its practical application. More importantly, the in-situ grown CNTs served as an effective protective cover to reduce the interaction between NdCo micro-flakes and corrosive environment, which gave the absorbent excellent corrosion resistance. This study might stimulate the further development of CNTs modified rare earth-based compounds as high-efficient and anti-corrosion microwave absorbers.