Microwave absorbing properties of Fe3O4–poly(3, 4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) hybrids in low‐frequency band

Abstract

A facile method is proposed to obtain microwave absorbing materials (MAMs), which possess strong microwave absorption properties in low‐frequency range. By simply mechanical mixing, the obtained Fe3O4–poly (3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) hybrids exhibit more excellent microwave absorbing properties than that of Fe3O4 or PEDOT individually. The analysis on the microwave absorbing properties of the Fe3O4–PEDOT hybrids indicates that the excellent microwave absorbing properties are ascribed to several factors, like the dielectric loss, the interface polarization, eddy current effect, natural ferromagnetic resonance, and the impedance as well as the thickness of the coating. The Fe3O4–PEDOT hybrids with appropriate mass ratios of PEDOT to Fe3O4 (represented by (PEDOT)/(Fe3O4)) show superior microwave absorbing property at low frequency. When the thickness is 4 mm, the reflection loss of the sample reached −15.8 dB at 3.2 GHz with (PEDOT)/(Fe3O4) of 3 and −31.4 dB at 4.5 GHz with (PEDOT)/(Fe3O4) of 2, respectively. The obtained Fe3O4–PEDOT MAMs will have a promising application in the practical industry and commerce affairs. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.