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Highlights • Highly porous carbon decorated with Co nanoparticles were synthesized. • The rambutan-like composites exhibite excellent microwave absorption property. • The pyrolysis temperature is the main factor for the composites. Abstract Nanoporous carbon (NPC) composites embedded with magnetic nanoparticles have been widely studied for applications in microwave absorption. Herein, highly porous rambutan-like carbon composites decorated with controllable carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and Co nanoparticles were synthesized through a thermal decomposition of Co-doped zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-8 (ZIF-8) under different temperatures. The MOF-derived carbon nanocomposites with the cobalt content accounting for 30% of the total mass of cobalt and zinc, carbonized at 700 °C, exhibited excellent microwave absorption property of −30.2 dB. Characterizations exhibit that the in-situ generated Co nanoparticles are uniformly embedded into NPC matrix, which are surrounded by highly graphitized CNTs. The research presents a facile and promising route for rapid mass production of metal-doped NPC/CNTs composites for high-efficiency microwave absorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]