Two-step reduction of self-assembed three-dimensional (3D) reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposites for electromagnetic absorption

Graphene oxide (GO) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles have formed a three-dimensional (3D) nanocomposite through a hydrothermal process, and further UV-irradiation removed the remaining oxygen functional groups from the skeleton of the reduced graphene oxide (RGO). This new type of 3D-RGO/ZnO nanocomposite exhibits a wide and effective absorption bandwidth (deeper than -10 dB), which was characterized as 6.4 GHz when the filler loading is 10 wt% in the composite and the thickness of the absorber is 2.5 mm. Therefore, combining the GO and ZnO nanoparticles into a 3D nanocomposite can be considered as an effective route to design a light weight and high performance electromagnetic absorption material.