Study on microwave absorbing properties of reduced graphene oxide@Co/Fe81.5Si3B9P3C1Cu1Ti1.5 amorphous nanocrystalline composite

•The reduced graphene oxide@Co (rGO@Co) composite was prepared with the RLmin of −50.03 dB and the EAB of 3.51 GHz.•The Fe-based nanocrystalline was composited with rGO@Co to obtain rGO@Co/FeSiBPCCuTi, in which rGO coats Co and FeSiBPCCuTi of double magnetic core structure to enhance the microwave absorbing properties.•The rGO@Co/FeSiBPCCuTi composite powder has excellent RLmin (−52.41 dB) and EAB (6.07 GHz). Electromagnetic pollution problems and military stealth technology need to be solved, the development of new wave absorbing materials has been imminent. In this study, reduced graphene oxide@Co (rGO@Co) powder is obtained by alcoholthermal method, afterwards the different contents of rGO@Co powders are also compounded with Fe81.5Si3B9P3C1Cu1Ti1.5 nanocrystalline powder by high-energy ball milling, obtaining rGO@Co/Fe81.5Si3B9P3C1Cu1Ti1.5 nanocrystalline composite powder, and powder morphology, the nuclear layer structure, soft magnetic properties and corresponding absorbing properties of the materials are studied. The research results are that rGO coats Co and Fe-based nanocrystalline of double magnetic cores in the composite powder, which realizes the synergy of the two magnetic cores to enhance the magnetic loss, is also compatible with the dielectric loss of rGO, and also improves the impedance matching. The minimum reflection loss (RLmin) is −44.18 dB, and the maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) is 5.03 GHz in the amorphous nanocrystalline alloy matrix. When the addition of rGO@Co powder is 1 wt%, the RLmin of composite powder is −52.41 dB (3 mm), which is increased by 18.6 %. The EAB is 6.07 GHz (2 mm), which is increased by 20.7 %.