Overcoming the Compatibility Challenge With a Biomimetic Mandala Heterostructure for Cross-Spectrum Electromagnetic Wave Absorption and Efficient Electrothermal Deicing

Combing untrabroadband electromagnetic wave absorption with efficient de-icing is critical in aerospace applications. However, synergistically integrating these two functions poses a significant challenge. A critical barrier lies in the opposing requirements that achieving efficient electrothermal heating demands high electrical conductivity, which is often counterproductive to the impedance matching needed for effective electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption. Herein, we report a bionic mandala-like heterostructure designed to overcome this compatibility challenge. This architecture is constructed from MOF-derived NiCo₂O₄/CoO@C composites, which create hierarchical conductive networks. The biomimetic mandala heterostructure simultaneously promotes multi-dimensional EMW scattering for absorption and enables efficient Joule heating for de-icing. The resulting multilayer metastructure achieves full-band effective microwave absorption (RL < −10 dB) across the entire 2–18 GHz range, which overcame the compatibility contradiction between broadband electromagnetic wave absorption and electrothermal deicing. Notably, it delivers a record-breaking strong absorption bandwidth (RL < −20 dB) of 6.36 GHz, outperforming all reported materials to date, alongside excellent broadband terahertz absorption performance. Furthermore, the surface material of multilayer absorber structure exhibits a rapid electrothermal response under a low driving voltage. This work provides a biomimetic structural design strategy for multifunctional materials that concurrently address broadband electromagnetic protection and active thermal management.