Innovation in hierarchical metal organic framework derivatives toward electromagnetic wave absorption

Abstract

There is an urgent global demand for electromagnetic waves (EMWs) attenuation to eradicate electromagnetic pollution, which has become increasing prevalent within the last few decades. A promising approach to address such an issue is the application of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) materials, taking advantage of their broad bandwidth, outstanding attenuation capability, ultrahigh porosity, ultra-low weight, and ease of processing. MOFs chemical structures can be readily tuned using the wide range of metals and ligands, enabling extensive tuning of their properties for applications in electromagnetic attenuation. In this review, we first summarize the fundamental theory of EMWs absorption. Subsequently, we discuss the recent progress on designing MOFs-based absorbing materials, with a focus on their key characteristics in EMWs attenuation. While MOF-based absorbers have been dominantly prepared by pyrolysis method, emerging approaches for the fabrication of MOF derived composites, such as self-assembling MOF-MXene, are also discussed. Existing drawbacks on current MOFs-derived materials are further identified. Addressing these drawbacks are critical for the development of effective MOFs-based absorbers for EMWs attenuation.