Tailoring superhydrophobic PDMS/CeFe2O4/MWCNTs nanocomposites with conductive network for highly efficient microwave absorption

The combination of cerium ferrite nanoparticles and the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) is exploited for the preparation of a novel CeFe2O4/MWCNTs microwave absorber nanocomposites. Considering the demands of the superhydrophobic microwave absorber, the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was further mixed with CeFe2O4/MWCNTs to achieve outstanding superhydrophobicity. The result reveals that the nanocomposite shows favorable thermal stability below 300 degrees C, and severe aggregation of nanoparticles got suppressed to some extent. Through the analysis of electromagnetic performance, it was found that the nanocomposite shows better impedance matching than single CeFe2O4 nanoparticles and MWCNTs, and the unique hybrid architecture of CeFe2O4/MWCNTs endows the silicone coating with excellent electromagnetic wave absorption performance. Especially, the PDMS/CeFe2O4/MWCNTs coating with a mass ratio of 5:1 (CeFe2O4/MWCNTs:PDMS) shows the maximum reflective loss of -47 dB at 11.3 GHz with an effective absorption bandwidth of 6.9 GHz. Furthermore, the PDMS/CeFe2O4/MWCNTs coating also exhibited the synergic feature of outstanding superhydrophobicity. In summary, this work proposed a practical method to resolve the maintaining of microwave absorption absorbers and fabricated a highly efficient microwave absorption and superhydrophobic silicone coating, which may offer valuable inspiration for the fabrications of microwave absorption materials and multifunctional coating.

Automated summary

This study utilized cerium ferrite nanoparticles and multi-walled carbon nanotubes to prepare a novel CeFe2O4/MWCNTs microwave absorber nanocomposite, achieving outstanding superhydrophobicity through the addition of polydimethylsiloxane. The nanocomposite exhibited favorable thermal stability, improved impedance matching, and excellent electromagnetic wave absorption performance, with a maximum reflective loss of -47 dB at 11.3 GHz.