A comparative study on the dielectric response and microwave absorption performance of FeNi-capped carbon nanotubes and FeNi-cored carbon nanoparticles

Pyrolysis-catalysis upcycling of waste plastic using a multilayer stainless-steel catalyst toward a circular economy

Current un-sustainable plastic management is exacerbating plastic pollution, an urgent shift is thus needed to create a recycling society. Such recovering carbon (C) and hydrogen (H) from waste plastic has been considered as one practical route to achieve a circular economy. Here, we performed a simple pyrolysis-catalysis deconstruction of waste plastic via a monolithic multilayer stainless-steel mesh catalyst to produce multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and H2, which are important carbon material and energy carrier to achieve sustainable development. Results revealed that the C and H recovery efficiencies were as high as 86% and 70%, respectively. The unique oxidation-reduction process and improvement of surface roughness led to efficient exposure of active sites, which increased MWCNTs by suppressing macromolecule hydrocarbons. The C recovery efficiency declined by only 5% after 10 cycles, proving the long-term employment of the catalyst. This catalyst can efficiently convert aromatics to MWCNTs by the vapor-solid-solid mechanism and demonstrate good universality in processing different kinds of waste plastics. The produced MWCNTs showed potential in applications of lithium-ion batteries and telecommunication. Owing to the economic profits and environmental benefits of the developed route, we highlighted its potential as a promising alternative to conventional incineration, simultaneously achieving the waste-to-resource strategy and circular economy.

Hard Carbon Embedded with FeSiAl Flakes for Improved Microwave Absorption Properties

Carbon-based composites have been proven to be strong candidates for microwave absorbers in recent years. However, as an important member, magnetic hard carbon (HC)-based composites have rarely been studied in the field of microwave absorption. In this study, HC embedded with FeSiAl (FeSiAl@HC) was synthesized by pyrolyzing a mixture of FeSiAl flakes and phenolic resin (PR). The as-synthesized HC-FeSiAl exhibited a layered structure, and the detailed microstructures were modified by changing the mass ratio of FeSiAl flakes and PR. Thus, the as-synthesized HC-FeSiAl exhibited tunable magnetic properties, wealthy functional groups, excellent thermal stability, and enhanced microwave absorption properties. The optimal minimum reflection loss is lower up to -36.1 dB, and the effective absorption bandwidth is wider up to 11.7 GHz. These results indicated that HC-FeSiAl should be a strong candidate for practical applications of microwave absorption, which may provide new insight into the synthesis of magnetic HC-based composites.

Microwave-Boosted One-Step Synthesis of Nanocrystal N-Doped 2D Carbon/Ni Composite with High Electromagnetic Absorption Performance

As the problems of electromagnetic pollution and interference are becoming increasingly serious, the development of electromagnetic absorption materials with a high absorption capacity and broad absorption bandwidth are stringently needed. In this work, an N-doped 2D carbon/Ni complex is synthesized through direct microwave irradiation on a mixed solution of nickel nitrate, urea, and agarose under N2. The electromagnetic absorption performance can be tuned by controlling the Ni content. Specifically, minimum reflection loss values (RLmin) of −65.5 dB at 15.8 GHz with an effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 4.2 GHz at a sample thickness of 1.47 mm, and −55.4 dB at 11.8 GHz with an EAB of 3 GHz at a sample thickness of 1.92 mm can be obtained. The outstanding performance of electromagnetic absorption is attributed to the multiple polarization relaxation processes and the synergistic effect between 2D carbon sheets and Ni particles.