Noncovalent self-assembly of a minuscule amount of nickel porphyrin on carbon nanotube for high-performance electromagnetic wave absorbing

High-performance and lightweight carbon-based electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbing materials are urgently required for applications in aerospace and next-generation electronics. However, it is of great importance to break through the conventional thinking of loading high-density magnetic metals to improve the EMW ab-sorption performance of carbon-based absorbers. Herein, the 5,10,15,20-tetrakis (4-aminophenyl) porphyrin nickel (Ni-TAPP) was self-assembled on the surface of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) driven by the pi-pi interactions via a simple, facile, scalable preparation approach. The fabricated Ni-TAPP@CNTs nanocomposites not only effec-tively integrated the Ni active sites of Ni-TAPP and three-dimensional conductive networks of CNTs, but also exhibited good impedance matching and optimized dielectric loss. Benefiting from this remarkable synergy, the Ni-TAPP@CNTs presented a minimum reflection loss of-66.5 dB (1.9 mm, 10.1 GHz) at a Ni-TAPP content of merely 2.86 wt%. This work undoubtedly provides a high-efficiency strategy for the scalable fabrication of lightweight, durable EMW absorbing materials.