Effect of reaction pH value on the microtopography of cobalt microspheres and microwave absorbing properties of Co@MWCNTs

Abstract

Chemical plating as a simple and effective method has been widely used in the production of metal materials, which can essential to reduce the density and improve the application of metal materials. In this paper, the cobalt microspheres were prepared by chemical plating while the polystyrene-microspheres were as a template. It was found that the pH value of reaction had a significant impact on the microtopography of Co-microsphere. XRD results of the Co-microsphere illustrated that, the crystal shape of Co-microspheres were affect by the pH value. Otherwise, the SEM results indicated that the flower-like cobalt microspheres were prepared while the pH value was 12. In addition, the microtopography of Co-microsphere had a significant effect on microwave absorption property of Co@MWCNTs. The reflection loss results demonstrated that, the Co-12@MWCNTs had a good microwave absorption performance, while the maximum reflection loss was −38.94 dB and the effective absorbing bandwidth was 4.28 GHz at a thickness of 2 mm. Therefore, it is necessary to study the influence of pH value on the microtopography of Co-microspheres and microwave absorbing mechanism of Co@MWCNTs.