Improved microwave absorption of Co-P/pollen composites synthesized by electroless plating

In this paper, electroless plating technologies were employed to prepare Co-P coatings on carbonized rape pollen as microwave absorption materials. Experimental results indicated microporous structures of rape pollen after a series of pretreatments, while uniform Co-P nanoparticles with diameters around 90 nm were deposited smoothly as coatings on and inside the irregular pollen walls. The Co-P/pollen composites exhibited a typical ferromagnetic characteristic with saturation magnetization of 32.6 emu g(-1) and coercivity of 125.1 Oe. In microwave absorption analysis, dielectric loss was revealed with predominant effects than magnetic loss in frequency ranges of 5.0-8.2 GHz. A minimum reflection loss of - 45.1 dB at 5.3 GHz was obtained with an increasing microwave absorption bandwidth up to 4.3 GHz.