Silicon carbide nanowire covered by vertically oriented graphene for enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption performance

Silicon carbide nanowires (SiC NWs) covered by vertically oriented graphene (SiC@graphene) is prepared by a chemical vapor deposition method. As a microwave absorber, SiC@graphene exhibits a minimum reflection loss (RL) of −16.2 dB at the thickness of 2.5 mm with an absorption bandwidth of 2.64 GHz (RL < −10 dB, 9.5–12.14 GHz), superior than that of the bare SiC NWs. The improved absorption performance is mainly originated from the complex conductive network and the numerous interfaces formed by the vertically grown graphene on the SiC NWs, which are beneficial for multiple scattering and absorptions of the incident microwave.