Fabrication of carbon/Co composites from waste tires for superior electromagnetic wave absorption

Pyrolyzed carbon black is a promising carbon material with excellent potential for electromagnetic waves absorption, making it suitable for mitigating electromagnetic pollution. It can be derived from various organic sources. In this study, waste tires, which are difficult to dispose of, were used as the carbon source to produce pyrolyzed carbon black. A porous structure was created using KOH, and cobalt was then loaded onto this structure to form a composite material with both dielectric and magnetic loss mechanisms. With a cobalt content of 15 wt% and a thickness of 1.9 mm, the composite achieved a reflection loss (RL) value of -66.1 dB and an effective bandwidth of 5.12 GHz, demonstrating significant wave absorption performance. This work effectively addresses both electromagnetic pollution and the disposal of waste tires, providing a large-scale, low-cost source of materials for wave absorption applications.