Enhanced microwave absorption properties of flaky MoS2 powders by decorating with Ni particles

•Novel MoS2/Ni light-weight absorbent was synthesized.•Compositing Ni with MoS2 significantly reduces the RL.•The powder with 20 wt% Ni exhibited the optimum absorption performance.•This work contributes to exploring thin and lightweight absorbers. Double-loss absorbers have attracted considerable attention due to their light weight, thin thickness, wide absorption bandwidth, and strong absorptivity. Herein, MoS2 was decorated with magnetic Ni particles by electroless plating process to fabricate a double loss MoS2/Ni absorbent. The MoS2/Ni powders were successfully prepared and the Ni particles were coated on the surface of MoS2. Changing the Ni content optimized not only the electromagnetic parameters but also the microwave absorption performance. Complex permittivity and permeability increased with increasing Ni content from 0 wt% to 20 wt%. The sample with MoS2-20 wt% Ni powders exhibited favorable absorption performance. For the mixture with a thickness of 2.0 mm, a frequency band range of below −10 dB reached over 9.0–11.8 GHz, with a minimum RL value of −22 dB at 10.3 GHz. Therefore, MoS2/Ni powders are expected to be a promising absorbent for thin and lightweight microwave-absorbing materials.