Enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption properties of polyaniline-coated Fe3O4/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites

Fe3O4-reduced graphene oxide-polyaniline (Fe3O4–RGO–PANI) ternary electromagnetic wave absorbing materials were prepared by in situ polymerization of aniline monomer on the surface of Fe3O4–RGO nanocomposites. The morphology, structure and other physical properties of the nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, vibration sample magnetism, etc. The electromagnetic wave absorbing properties of composite materials were measured by using a vector network analyzer. The PANI–Fe3O4–RGO nanocomposites demonstrated that the maximum reflection loss was −36.5 dB at 7.4 GHz with a thickness of 4.5 mm and the absorption bandwidth with the reflection loss below −10 dB was up to 12.0 GHz with a thickness in the range of 2.5–5.0 mm, suggesting that the microwave absorption properties and the absorption bandwidth were greatly enhanced by coating with polyaniline (PANI). The strong absorption characteristics of PANI–Fe3O4–RGO ternary composites indicated their potential application as the electromagnetic wave absorbing material.