Preparation of Carbon Encapsulated Magnetic FeCo Alloy Nanoparticles Supported on Carbon Nanotubes for Enhanced Microwave Absorption

Abstract

A mixture of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in an ethanol solution of Fe(NO3)3.9H2O and Co(NO3)2.6H2O, were used to prepare an Fe2O3-CoO catalyst supported on carbon nanotubes by a supercritical fluid drying method. The carbon encapsulated FeCo nanoparticles were prepared by the catalytic decomposition of methane over the catalyst at 850°C for 30 mins. The morphology and microstructure of the catalyst and carbon encapsulated nanoparticles (CEP) were characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDS and TEM analyses. The electromagnetic characteristics and microwave absorption properties of the CEP product were also studied. Results show that the CEP product possesses high complex permittivity and good permeability in the microwave frequency range from 2 to 18 GHz. The maximum absorption peak was observed at 9.44 GHz for a large reflection loss (R) of 13.3 dB, with a band width of 7.4 GHz and 2.56 GHz, at R <- 5 dB and R <- 10 dB, respectively.