Porous flower-like Ni/C composites derived from MOFs toward high-performance electromagnetic wave absorption

•A new type of porous flower-like Ni/C composites were designed and synthesized.•The new strategy is facile, controllable and without surface active agents.•The desirable impedance match of flower-like structures can be achieved.•The maximum reflection loss of −50.2 dB at a thickness of 1.6 mm have been achieved. The porous flower-like Ni/C composites were simply prepared through the pyrolysis of Zn-doped metal organic frameworks (MOFs) under a N2 atmosphere. The method is facile, controllable and without surface active agents. The microstructure, composition, and electromagnetic parameters can be easily controlled by varying thermal decomposition temperature to achieve the high electromagnetic loss. Interestingly, the Ni/C composites calcined at 800 °C have strong electromagnetic absorption with the maximum reflection loss (RL) value of −52.4 dB. In addition, the effective absorption band width (