Remarkable influence of carbon nanotubes on microwave absorption characteristics of strontium ferrite/CNT nanocomposites

In this research work, magnetic multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) nanocomposites have been created by the assembly of Zn-Sn substituted strontium ferrite film onto the surface of MWCNTs. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were used to demonstrate the successful attachment of ferrite films to MWCNTs. Mossbauer spectroscopy indicates that the Zn-Sn ions preferentially occupy the 2b and 4f(2) sites. Vibrating sample magnetometry confirms the relatively strong dependence of saturation magnetization with the volume percentage of MWCNTs. Microwave absorption of the MWCNTs/doped strontium ferrite nanocomposites is evidently enhanced compared to that of pure MWCNTs and ferrite. The maximum reflection loss increased significantly with an increase in volume percentage of MWCNTs in nanocomposites. Reflection loss evaluations indicated that the nanocomposites display a great potential application as wide-band electromagnetic wave absorbers. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.