Cubic MnFe2O4 particles decorated reduced graphene oxide with excellent microwave absorption properties

Abstract

Herein, we have fabricated the reduced graphene oxide/manganese ferrite (RGO/MnFe2O4) hybrid composites by a facile one-pot hydrothermal method. The obtained MnFe2O4 particles exhibited the uniquely cubic morphology with an average particle size of 100.6 nm, which were uniformly attached to the surface of RGO sheets. Results demonstrated that both the ratio of RGO to MnFe2O4 and filling ratio had notable effects on the microwave absorption performance of the as-prepared hybrid composites. Moreover, the hybrid composites showed the characteristics of thin thickness, broad bandwidth and strong absorption. Significantly, the hybrid composite with a filling ratio of 70 wt% (S2) exhibited the best microwave absorption performance, i.e. the minimum reflection loss reached −47.5 dB and effective absorption bandwidth (less than −10 dB) was 5.2 GHz for a thickness of only 1.7 mm. Therefore, the RGO/MnFe2O4 hybrid composites could be potential candidates for application in microwave absorption.