Facile preparation, characterization and highly effective microwave absorption performance of porous α-Fe2O3 nanorod-graphene composites

A facile process was developed for the synthesis of porous alpha-Fe2O3 nanorod-graphene (alpha-Fe2O3 nanorod-graphene) composites based on the reduction of graphene oxide sheets by Fe2+ in the presence cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), followed by annealing in Ar atmosphere. When CTAB was added in the synthesis system, only porous alpha-Fe2O3 nanorods distributed uniformly on the surface of graphene (porous alpha-Fe2O3 nanorod-graphene). While both irregular and porous nanorod-shaped alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles coexisted on graphene surfaces (alpha-Fe2O3-graphene) and nanorod-shaped alpha-Fe2O3 tended to severely aggregate with each other without the addition of CTAB. In comparison with alpha-Fe2O3-graphene, porous alpha-Fe2O3 nanorod-graphene composites exhibit enhanced electromagnetic absorption in terms of both the maximum reflection loss value and the absorption bandwidth, which probably originates from the bigger electromagnetic attenuation constant induced by the better homogeneous morphology and uniform distribution of Fe2O3 on graphene surface.