Engineering Porous Carbon
Electromagnetic-wave pollution and electromagnetic interference are growing concerns alongside the expansion of 5G and 6G communications, radar systems, the Internet of Things, and high-speed electronics. Researchers from Shenyang Aerospace University , AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Co. Ltd. , Shenyang Agricultural University , and the Institute of Strength Physics and Materials Science SB RAS developed lightweight carbon aerogels designed to address both microwave absorption and heat management.
The materials were prepared from chitosan and chitin nanofibrils using directional freezing, carbonization, solvothermal deposition, and a second carbonization step. Adjusting the relative content of the rigid chitin nanofibrils altered the pore architecture from vertically layered structures to aligned, straight-through polygonal channels. Rational pore-structure control allowed the researchers to tune electrical conductivity, dielectric response, impedance matching, and electromagnetic-energy dissipation.
CoNi Components Add Magnetic Loss
CoNi-based metal–organic frameworks were deposited in situ onto the carbon aerogel skeleton and converted into CoNi@C components during carbonization. Microscopy, X-ray diffraction, spectroscopy, and elemental mapping confirmed the porous carbon framework, graphitized carbon, nitrogen-containing structures, and dispersed CoNi alloy nanocrystals.
The resulting composite integrates several attenuation pathways, including dielectric polarization , interfacial polarization at carbon, pore, and CoNi interfaces, conductive loss, and magnetic resonance. The carbon framework also supports impedance matching, enabling electromagnetic waves to enter the aerogel before their energy is dissipated through repeated scattering and conversion into heat.
Wide Absorption at Low Density
The optimized CCNG aerogel had an ultralow density of 13 mg cm⁻³. At a thickness of 5.0 mm and a filler loading of 2 wt.%, it achieved an effective absorption bandwidth of 10.26 GHz, with a minimum reflection loss of −21.34 dB. The bandwidth covers the entire X and Ku bands under the reported measurement conditions.
After CoNi incorporation, the CN-CCNG2 composite reached an effective absorption bandwidth of 9.18 GHz at a thickness of 3.8 mm and a minimum reflection loss of −44.06 dB at 17.37 GHz and 2.9 mm thickness. A reported radar-cross-section simulation at 17.37 GHz yielded a reduction of −58.42 dB m² at the optimized 3.8-mm thickness.
Insulation for Thermal Management
The aerogel architecture also limited heat transfer. For a 7-mm-thick CN-CCNG2 sample placed on a 90 °C hot plate for 30 min, the surface temperature reached 47.6 °C, with a variation of less than 0.4 °C across the surface. At hot-plate temperatures of 200 and 280 °C, the corresponding surface temperatures stabilized at approximately 104.4 and 156.5 °C.
Measured thermal conductivities ranged from 0.033 to 0.041 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ across the CN-CCNG aerogels. The variation was associated with differences in composition and pore structure, including changes in pore size and the potential contribution of air movement within larger pores.
Outlook for Multifunctional Absorbers
The authors report that the data supporting the findings are available from the corresponding author upon request. The paper does not provide a separate statement of application-specific limitations or full-scale validation. Further work will therefore be needed to assess durability, mechanical performance under operational conditions, behavior over longer service periods, and microwave absorption in practical component geometries and environments.
The findings establish a lightweight multifunctional materials strategy based on biomass-derived precursors, tunable pore architecture, and magnetic CoNi components. Liang Tang and Shaowei Lu are the corresponding authors, affiliated with Shenyang Agricultural University and Shenyang Aerospace University , respectively. The approach provides a basis for future development of structurally engineered aerogels for electromagnetic protection and thermal-management applications.
Corresponding Author: Liang Tang or Shaowei Lu
Original Source: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44246-026-00297-x
Contributions: All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Software, Investigation, Writingoriginal draft, and Writing-review & editing were performed by Mingwei Zhu and Yifan Li. Formal analysis was performed by Yifan Li, Jiali Guan, Jiannan Ren. Writing-review & editing and Software were performed by Shouhang Lv, Jingyi Xu, Chaoran Zhang and Xiangran Cui. Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing—review & editing, Project administration, and Funding acquisition were performed by Liang Tang, Sergey Panin and Shaowei Lu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Yifan Li and Jiali Guan, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Carbon Research
Experimental study
Not applicable
Lightweight CoNi/carbon aerogels with tailored structure for integrated ultra-broadband microwave absorption and thermal insulation
24-Aug-2026
The authors declare no competing interests.