Three-dimensional hierarchical structured Fe3O4/rGO/ZnO composite for effective electromagnetic wave absorption

The three-dimensional Fe 3 O 4 /rGO/ZnO composite was successfully fabricated with a two-step method. Particularly, with rGO as the substrate, spindle-shaped ZnO nanorods and magnetic nanoparticles Fe 3 O 4 are uniformly dispersed on the surface of rGO. Various equipments are used to test the structure, morphology and performance of the composite. Compared with single Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles and Fe 3 O 4 /rGO composite, the Fe 3 O 4 /rGO/ZnO composite has excellent EMWA performance. The minimum RL of the Fe 3 O 4 /rGO/ZnO composite is − 58.7 dB and the effective absorption bandwidth less than − 10 dB is 5.4 GHz (effective absorption bandwidth, RL ≤ − 10 dB, 12.6–18.0 GHz) with a thickness of 2 mm. It is believed that multi-layered hierarchical Fe 3 O 4 /rGO/ZnO composite can be used as an electromagnetic wave absorber and is a prospective material in these technical fields.