Continuous growth of carbon nanotubes on the surface of carbon fibers for enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption properties

As electromagnetic wave (EMW) pollution has become a serious problem in daily life, lightweight, efficient, and mass-produced EMW-absorbing materials are urgently needed. Herein, we developed a novel method for the continuous growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers (CFs) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which can be applied to mass production. The obtained CF/CNT composites demonstrate outstanding EMW absorption capability, exhibiting a -58.75 dB reflection loss (RL) at a thickness of 1.54 mm. An effective absorption bandwidth (RL < -10 dB) of 4.24 GHz (13.76–18.00 GHz) was achieved at a thickness as low as 1.25 mm, which almost covers the entire Ku band. The excellent EMW-absorbing performance can be attributed to the 3D conductive network constructed by the CNT forest, which effectively promotes multiple reflections and scattering, and further favors dipole and interface polarizations. The mechanical properties of CF, CF-electrochemical anodic oxidation (EAO), and CF/CNT composites were examined, the results showed that the single-filament tensile strength of CF/CNT@0.07 and CF/CNT@0.09 was effectively improved. Our work suggests that the novel CF/CNT composite is a promising material for EMW absorption and strength enhancement owing to its light weight, high strength, low thickness, and good scale-up ability.