Fabrication of three-dimensional nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide/tin oxide composite aerogels as high-performance electromagnetic wave absorbers

Abstract

Developing light-weight and high-efficiency electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbers has been considered as an effective strategy to resolve the electromagnetic radiation pollution problem. Herein, nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide/tin oxide (NRGO/SnO2) composite aerogels were facilely prepared through the hydrothermal process and subsequent lyophilization treatment. Morphological characterization results manifested that the attained NRGO/SnO2 composite aerogels possessed unique three-dimensional (3D) porous network structure constituted by the tiny SnO2 nanoparticles decorated wrinkled surfaces of flake-like NRGO. Moreover, excellent EMW absorption performance could be achieved through facilely regulating the additive volumes of ethylenediamine and filler contents. Impressively, the composite aerogel with a doped nitrogen concentration of 6.5 wt% displayed the optimal minimum reflection loss of −62.3 dB at a matching thickness of 3.5 mm and the broadest effective absorption bandwidth of 5.1 GHz under an ultrathin thickness of merely 1.6 mm. Furthermore, the as-synthesized composite aerogels showed a light-weight characteristic with the low bulk density of 19.9–25.7 mg·cm−3. Additionally, the potential EMW absorption mechanisms of obtained composite aerogels were revealed, which were mainly ascribed to the unique 3D porous network structure, synergistic effects between conduction loss and polarization loss, as well as the balanced attenuation loss and impedance matching. This work could be valuable for the structural design and fabrication of 3D graphene-based dielectric composites as light-weight and high-efficiency EMW absorbers.