Fabrication of reduced graphene oxide/multi-walled carbon nanotubes/zinc ferrite hybrid composites as high-performance microwave absorbers

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide/multi-walled carbon nanotubes/zinc ferrite (RGO/MWCNTs/ZnFe2O4) hybrid composite was fabricated by a facile solvothermal route. The structure, morphology and magnetic properties of the as-prepared composite have been investigated. It was found that the MWCNTs twisted around ZnFe2O4 microspheres and interlinked with RGO, which resulting in the highly connected three-dimensional conductive networks were observed in the ternary composite. Moreover, the ternary composite exhibited excellent microwave absorption performance with the minimum reflection loss of −22.2 dB and maximum absorption bandwidth (less than −10 dB) of 2.3 GHz for a thickness of only 1.0 mm. Besides, the microwave absorption mechanism of the composite was also explored. These results indicated that the RGO/MWCNTs/ZnFe2O4 composite was an ideal candidate to be used as microwave absorbers with lightweight, high-efficient performance and thin thickness.