Facile synthesis of novel one-dimensional silver telluride heterojunction composite with superior electromagnetic wave attenuation capacity

The design and fabrication of efficient microwave absorbing materials with tunable wave attenuation capacity to address the increasing demand for electromagnetic pollution mitigators remains a challenging task. In this study, Ag₂Te and a series of Ag/Ag₂Te composites have been successfully synthesized by using a facile one-step solvothermal method through varying the molar ratio of the reactants and reaction time. To investigate the microwave absorption performance of these composites, the samples are mixed with polyvinylidene difluoride matrix under different filler ratios. The experimental results indicate that the AT3 (where the molar ratio of Ag:Te is 4:1) sample possesses optimal wave dissipation ability with a minimum reflection loss value of -55.98 dB at 15.01 GHz and a maximum effective absorption bandwidth of 4.90 GHz (13.10–18.00 GHz) at a thickness of 1.7 mm when the filler content is 10 wt%. Moreover, the widest EAB of 6.20 GHz (10.60–16.80 GHz) is recorded in the Ag₂Te sample. Meanwhile, it is observed the solvothermal reaction time can effectually influence effective wave absorption frequency. As the reaction time increases, the position of RL_min shifts to lower frequencies. The analysis of the wave absorption mechanism demonstrates that the novel crooked one-dimensional linear structure and abundant heterogeneity within the Ag/Ag₂Te composite plays an important role in achieving outstanding wave absorption performance. The specific wave absorption mechanism includes conductive loss, multiple scattering, multiple resonant coupling, interface polarization and electric dipole polarization. This work can provide an effective strategy for the design of high-performance MAMs through constituent and morphology modulation.