Preparation, magnetism and microwave absorption performance of ultra-thin Fe3O4/carbon nanotube sandwich buckypaper

Fe3O4/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) sandwich buckypapers were fabricated with monodisperse solutions of MWCNTs and Fe3O4 nanoparticles through layer by layer vacuum filtration method and can be co-cured with composites for microwave absorbing application. The morphology, element composition and magnetic properties of sandwich buckypapers were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrometer, X-ray diffraction and vibrating sample magnetometer. The complex permittivity and permeability, the reflection loss properties of polymer composites surface coated buckypapers were investigated in the frequency range of 8.2-18 GHz. The results indicate that, due to the electromagnetic matching of magnetic loss and dielectric loss, the microwave absorption properties of the Fe3O4/MWCNTs sandwich buckypaper attached polymer composites are evidently improved. When the blending Fe3O4 content in sandwich buckypaper is 20 wt%, the composite displays a larger and wider absorption peak (-12.62 dB at 17.72 GHz), and the bandwidth of the reflection loss below -5 dB is larger than 5.6 GHz with a absorbing thickness of 0.1 mm. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.