Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials are categorized as a new class of microwave absorption (MA) materials owing to their high specific surface area and peculiar electronic properties. In this study, 2D WS₂–reduced graphene oxide (WS₂–rGO) heterostructure nanosheets were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal process; moreover, their dielectric and MA properties were reported for the first time. Remarkably, the maximum reflection loss (RL) of the sample–wax composites containing 40 wt% WS₂–rGO was − 41.5 dB at a thickness of 2.7 mm; furthermore, the bandwidth where RL < − 10 dB can reach up to 13.62 GHz (4.38–18 GHz). Synergistic mechanisms derived from the interfacial dielectric coupling and multiple-interface scattering after hybridization of WS₂ with rGO were discussed to explain the drastically enhanced microwave absorption performance. The results indicate these lightweight WS₂–rGO nanosheets to be potential materials for practical electromagnetic wave-absorbing applications.

The electrocaloric (EC) effect of ${\text{BaTiO}}_3$ multilayer thick film structure was investigated by direct measurement and theoretical calculation. The samples were prepared by the tape-casting method, which had 180 dielectric layers with an average thickness of $1.4\mu \text{m}$ . The thermodynamic calculation based on the polarization-temperature curves predicted a peak heat adsorption of 0.32 J/g at $80°\text{C}$ under 176 kV/cm electric field. The direct measurement via differential scanning calorimeter showed a much higher EC effect of 0.91 J/g at $80°\text{C}$ under same electric field. The difference could result from the different trends of changes of electric polarization and lattice elastic energy under ultrahigh electric field.

The laminated transition metal disulfides (TMDs), which are well known as typical two-dimensional (2D) semiconductive materials, possess a unique layered structure, leading to their wide-spread applications in various fields, such as catalysis, energy storage, sensing, etc. In recent years, a lot of research work on TMDs based functional materials in the fields of electromagnetic wave absorption (EMA) has been carried out. Therefore, it is of great significance to elaborate the influence of TMDs on EMA in time to speed up the application. In this review, recent advances in the development of electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbers based on TMDs, ranging from the VIB group to the VB group are summarized. Their compositions, microstructures, electronic properties, and synthesis methods are presented in detail. Particularly, the modulation of structure engineering from the aspects of heterostructures, defects, morphologies and phases are systematically summarized, focusing on optimizing impedance matching and increasing dielectric and magnetic losses in the EMA materials with tunable EMW absorption performance. Milestones as well as the challenges are also identified to guide the design of new TMDs based dielectric EMA materials with high performance.