Synthesis of Fe3O4/rGO@PANI with three-dimensional flower-like nanostructure and microwave absorption properties

Due to the pressing need for electromagnetic interference and radar stealth, microwave absorbers have garnered considerable attention. Through chemical co-precipitation and in-situ polymerization, we synthesize a ternary composite containing reduced graphene oxide, Fe3O4 with flower-like nanostructures, and polyaniline (PANI). To fine-tune the impedance matching and corrosion resistance of composite materials, the conductive PANI was densely coated on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/flower-like Fe3O4(f-Fe3O4). The ternary composite exhibits excellent microwave absorption performance. In comparison to rGO/f-Fe3O4(1:10), which has a minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of -32.81 dB at 10.61 GHz and a 5.15 GHz effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) (7.34-12.49 GHz), rGO/f-Fe3O4(1:10)@PANI has an RLmin of -46.49 dB at 9.93 GHz with a 2.5 mm thickness and an EAB of 4.25 (8.90-13.15 GHz). The results indicate that the addition of the PANI anticorrosion coating layer has no discernible effect on the final microwave absorption performance. This article also examines the effect of rGO weight ratio on microwave absorbing properties. When the rGO content is too high, the impedance will be mismatched, while the too low rGO content will affect the absorbing performance. This research work has contributed to our present understanding of the structure design and composition control of microwave absorbers. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.