Facile synthesis and enhanced electromagnetic microwave absorption performance for porous core-shell Fe3O4@MnO2 composite microspheres with lightweight feature

Functional composite microspheres with porous Fe3O4 cores and hierarchical MnO2 shells have been synthesized successfully via a two-step hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction was employed to determine the crystal forms of samples. The morphologies and microstructures of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and Fe3O4@MnO2 composite microspheres were observed by the scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. It can be seen that hierarchically structured MnO2 shells have coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles, and the shell thickness is about 140–160 nm. The BET specific surface area and porosity were estimated by the N2 absorption-desorption isotherms and the magnetic properties were measured by the vibrating sample magnetometer. As-synthesized Fe3O4@MnO2 composite microspheres have a BET specific surface area of 167 m2/g, and the pore width is mainly distributed in the mesoporous range, especially from 2.0 nm to 12.0 nm. Investigations of microwave absorbing properties manifest that Fe3O4@MnO2 composite microspheres with loading 10% weight fraction possess the strongest RL peak of −42.6 dB (5.7 GHz) at the matching thickness 4.0 mm, and Fe3O4@MnO2 composite microspheres with loading 20% weight fraction have a broader absorbing bandwidth (10.2–15.0 GHz and 15.5–17.3 GHz) at the matching thickness 1.5 mm. Achieving the advantages of intensive absorption, wide effective absorbing bandwidth band and intrinsic lightweight feature, porous core-shell Fe3O4@MnO2 composite microspheres are believed to be more promising in the application of microwave absorption. [Display omitted] •Porous core-shell Fe3O4@MnO2 composite microspheres have been synthesized.•The BET specific surface area is 167 m2/g.•The pore width is mainly distributed in the range of 2.0–12.0 nm.•They possess the strongest RL peak of −42.6 dB (5.7 GHz) at loading 10 wt%.•The excellent absorbing bandwidth is located in the 10.2–15.0 and 15.5–17.3 GHz.