Regulating microwave absorption and energy bandgap using cauliflower-like polyaniline coated on La0.8Sr0.2FeO3 nanoparticles

Abstract

In this research, La0.8Sr0.2FeO3/cauliflower-like polyaniline (PANi) nanocomposite was architected based on a novel complementary method using dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid as a doping agent. The prepared nanocomposite was characterized using Fourier transform infrared, X-ray powder diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer diffuse reflection spectroscopy, and vector network analyzer analyses. All of the used analyses attested that the pure structure of materials has been synthesized. Polarizability, energy bandgap, magnetic property, and microwave absorbing features were tailored by loading the various mass fraction of PANi. Exclusive interactions between the nanoparticles with alkaline property and aniline monomers along the experimental route led to the preparation of nanocomposite with unique morphology. Inserting PANi augmented softness and isotropic magnetic property of the prepared nanocomposite, desirable for microwave absorption. Moreover, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was applied as a novel microwave absorbing matrix. The maximum reflection loss (RL) of La0.8Sr0.2FeO3/PANi10%/PAN was − 69.24 dB at 12.62 GHz with an efficient bandwidth of 6.47 GHz (RL < − 10 dB) meanwhile the efficient bandwidth was enhanced to 6.97 GHz (RL < − 10 dB) for La0.8Sr0.2FeO3/PANi30%/PAN nanocomposite.