Harnessing Interfacial Polarization in Ultralight Heterostructure Aerogels for High-Efficiency Electromagnetic Dissipation

Harnessing Interfacial Polarization in Ultralight Heterostructure Aerogels for High-Efficiency Electromagnetic Dissipation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Harnessing Interfacial Polarization in Ultralight Heterostructure Aerogels for High-Efficiency Electromagnetic Dissipation Zhesheng Chen, Cailong Liu, Zailan Zhang, Kailong Yu, Yuelei Pan, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9212944/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The increasing severity of electromagnetic pollution in the environment poses a significant challenge to electromagnetic absorption technologies, while the precise control of material structures to achieve multifunctional coupling remains a major challenge. Here, we introduce a temperature-programmable phase transition engineering strategy aimed at overcoming this challenge and achieving multifunctional synergy. Using freeze-drying and gradient annealing processes, we prepare an ultra-light aerogel (3.2 mg/cm3) composed of hollow NiCo nanocubes and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The continuous phase transition from metallic nitrides/carbides to Co/Ni alloys by controlling the annealing temperature can optimize the magnetic composition and the degree of graphitization of the rGO, thus constructing a three-dimensional heterostructure. At an extremely low loading of just 8 wt% and a matched thickness of 2.5 mm, the Co/Ni@rGO aerogel annealed at 600 °C demonstrated a minimum reflection loss of -75.7 dB and an ultra-broad effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 8.9 GHz. Additionally, the density functional theory and simulation results indicate that the extremely narrow metal bandgap and interfacial charge transfer significantly enhance polarization loss. In multifunctional testing, the material successfully integrated hydrophobicity, infrared stealth, and radar cross-section reduction (-8.7 dB∙m2) properties. Furthermore, through macrostructural design based on metamaterial simulations, the EAB was significantly broadened to 14.83 GHz, enabling dynamically tunable adaptive protection. This work demonstrates that temperature-programmed phase-change engineering, which can overcome the limitations of low filling, high absorption and wide bandwidth, establishing a potential pathway for intelligent stealth materials, from component design to system integration. Physical sciences/Nanoscience and technology/Nanoscale materials/Organic–inorganic nanostructures Physical sciences/Materials science/Nanoscale materials/Graphene heterostructures nanostructures multifunctional materials electromagnetic simulation electromagnetic wave absorption Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupportingInformation.docx supplementary information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9212944","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":612242860,"identity":"e4eae8de-2c86-477e-bfab-5fd2d075634c","order_by":0,"name":"Zhesheng 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