Preparation and characterization of ferrite/carbon aerogel composites for electromagnetic wave absorbing materials

Ferrite/carbon aerogel composites have been fabricated via vacuum impregnation and coprecipitation of iron ions. The resultant Fe3O4/carbon aerogels possess high specific surface area, electronic conductive interconnected network and uniformly dispersed magnetic nanoparticles, showing an excellent electromagnetic wave absorption performance, which can be tactfully regulated by the pyrolysis temperature and incorporated Fe3O4 content. The minimum reflection loss of −57 dB is achieved with a filler loading of 10 wt%, and the effective absorption bandwidth can cover 5.2 GHz with a thickness of 1.8 mm. Furthermore, the electromagnetic energy dissipation mechanism has been discussed to provide a new route for preparing electromagnetic wave absorption materials. •Ferrite/carbon aerogel composites are fabricated by a simple yet facile vacuum impregnation route.•The composite features large specific area and conductive network with Fe3O4 nanoparticle incorporated.•A strong adsorption of −57 dB and an effective absorption bandwidth (RL