With the rapid development of modern society and the increasing popularity of electronic equipment, electromagnetic wave pollution has become a serious problem. In order to solve this problem, the research and application of electromagnetic absorbing materials have been widely concerned. In recent years, the construction of heterogeneous absorbing materials with different components has become a major research focus. The heterogeneous structure formed by hard magnetic and soft magnetic materials can produce interfacial exchange coupling at the heterogeneous interface. However, there are few researches on soft and hard heterostructures at present, both of which have the problems of insufficient heterointerface and impedance mismatch, and lack of good exchange coupling strength, resulting in insufficient coupling ability. Therefore, in order to give full play to the advantages of magnetic interface engineering, the control of soft/hard magnetic heterogeneous interface nanostructures is essential.
A team of material scientists led by Dong Wang from Shandong University of Technology, China recently studied the state of tailored hard/soft magnetic heterostructure for efficient microwave absorption and anti-corrosion property to advance research in the field. The synthesized Fe3C/ZnFe2O4/C (FZC) shows wide EAB of 4.56 GHz and RLmin value of -65.6 dB. By layer-to-layer stacking of two-dimensional (2D) FZC and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), the obtained flexible rGO/FZC-1 film can effectively shield 5G signals. Importantly, both the 2D morphology and abundant heterostructures restrain the diffusion of saline ions inside the FZC coatings and enhance the "maze effect", finally improving the corrosion resistance in marine environment.
The team published their review in Nano Research on April 22, 2025.
"In this research, we present a soft/hard magnetic heterostructures of ZnFe2O4/Fe3C, which are anchored on 2D carbon nanosheets, are successfully tailored by in-situ blowing gel process. Soft magnetic ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles and hard magnetic Fe3C nanoparticles are crosslinked with each other, forming a large number of heterogeneous interfaces. Such soft/hard magnetic heterogeneous interfaces generate sufficient magnetic exchange coupling interaction, and enhance polarization loss. Moreover, the clever introduction of 2D carbon sheets balances the impedance matching and endow the composites with dielectric loss. The synthesized Fe3C/ZnFe2O4/C-1 (FZC-1) shows wide EAB of 4.56 GHz and RLmin value of -65.6 dB. RCS simulation results further confirm that the FZC-1 has great application prospects in stealth coatings. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate the exchange coupling effect, which results from the dynamic charges reconstruction of soft and hard magnetic heterogeneous interface. Moreover, by layer-to-layer stacking of 2D FZC and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), the obtained flexible rGO/FZC-1 composite film can effectively shield 5G signals. Importantly, both the 2D morphology and abundant heterostructures restrain the diffusion of saline ions inside the FZC coatings and enhance the "maze effect", finally greatly enhancing the corrosion resistance in marine environment," said Dong wang, senior author of the paper, a professor in the School of Materials science and Engineering at Shandong University of Technology and vice president of the Institute of Engineering Ceramics.
Other contributors include Xin Xu, Rui Zhang, Xuelin Li, Guangshuai Zhang and Guangwu Wen from the School of Materials science and Engineering at Shandong University of Technology, China; Yuying Yang from the School of Medical Laboratory, Qilu Medical University, China; Long Xia and Bo Zhong from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai), China, and Xiaoxiao Huang from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, China.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52202371), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR2023ME010, ZR2024ME168), Youth Innovation Team Program in Colleges of Shandong Province (No. 2023KJ151), SDUT&Zibo City Integration Development Project (No. 2021SNPT0045).
About the Authors
Dr. Dong Wang is a full professor in School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Vice President of Engineering Ceramics Research Institute. He mainly engaged in the development of new secondary battery electrode materials and solid electrolytes, and the development of key electrode materials for capacitor deion. Until now, he has published more than 20 SCI papers in Adv. Mater., Angew.Chem., and 8 invention patents have been authorized.
About Nano Research
Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, open access, international and interdisciplinary research journal, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society, published by Tsinghua University Press on the platform SciOpen. It publishes original high-quality research and significant review articles on all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, ranging from basic aspects of the science of nanoscale materials to practical applications of such materials. After 18 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. Nano Research has published more than 1,000 papers every year from 2022, with its cumulative count surpassing 7,000 articles. In 2024 InCites Journal Citation Reports, its 2024 IF is 9.0 (8.7, 5 years), and it continues to be the Q1 area among the four subject classifications. Nano Research Award, established by Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, and Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards, established by Nano Research in 2018, have become international academic awards with global influence.
