Regulating Local Coordination Environment of Single-Atom Co Absorbers for Dielectric-Magnetic Dual Loss Modulation.

Liu, Xiao; Qian, Yongxin; Yu, Lei; Si, Zhike; Wu, Lihong; Wan, Gengping; Xu, Xuefei; Wang, Guizhen · Adv Mater · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Single-atom materials with well-defined microstructures offer unique opportunities for revealing electromagnetic energy dissipation mechanisms. However, research on the optimization of local electronic states to achieve dielectric-magnetic collaborative losses remains rare. Herein, a dipole-spin synergistic regulation was realized in cobalt single-atom (Co-SA) absorbers through atomic-scale coordination engineering. Experimental and theoretical analyses revealed that asymmetric coordination facilitates enhanced dipole polarization, thereby improving dielectric loss, while the low-spin to high-spin transition increases the magnetic moment, resulting in strengthened magnetic loss. This dielectric-magnetic synergistic regulation constructs superior atomic-level absorption centers, enabling outstanding electromagnetic wave absorption (EWA) with a minimum reflection loss of -54.87 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth of 5.36 GHz. This work demonstrates a scalable approach for the precise design and optimization of high-performance EWA materials and offers a new insight into the relationships between the single-atom coordination environment and the EWA performance.