Facile construction of wide-band electromagnetic wave absorber based on honeycomb-like PU foam embedded with GO-rGO/SmCo5 nanocomposite for stealth application of drone

Abstract

The utilization of three-dimensional hierarchical porous foam structures has proven to be a successful approach in creating lightweight and wide bandwidth microwave absorbers with superior performance. In this study, a honeycomb-shaped polyurethane (PU) foam was utilized as the substrate for an absorber. It was combined with a new nanocomposite consisting of GO-rGO as the dielectric parts and SmCo5 as the magnetic component. The concept of utilizing a GO-rGO nanocomposite with varying bandgap within the synthesized composite foam led to the creation of multiple heterogeneous interfaces, enhancing interfacial polarization and ultimately achieving optimal impedance matching. Furthermore, the incorporation of GO-rGO nanocomposites in the synthesis of SmCo5 aimed to facilitate the thorough amalgamation of the components, mitigate the self-agglomeration of the magnetic particles, and establish a two-dimensional matrix of aligned magnetic particles, resulting in an improvement in magnetic loss phenomena. Additionally, the 3D hierarchical structure of the porous foam serves to create an intricate network, thereby enhancing the transmission pathways and enabling the activation of a greater number of attenuation phenomena. The findings suggest that the compound presents remarkable abilities in absorbing microwaves, boasting a reflection loss of −32.5 dB at 10.6 GHz and an effective absorption bandwidth of 4 GHz at a 1.4 mm thickness. The outstanding microwave absorption properties can be credited to the activation of a variety of attenuation mechanisms, including interfacial polarization, multiple reflections and scattering of waves, enhanced impedance matching, and resilient magneto dielectric losses.