Controllable fabrication of Fe3O4/ZnO core-shell nanocomposites and their electromagnetic wave absorption performance in the 2-18 GHz frequency range

Abstract

In this study, Fe3O4/ZnO core-shell nanocomposites were synthesized through a chemical method of coating the magnetic core (Fe3O4) with ZnO by co-precipitation of Fe3O4 with zinc acetate in a basic medium of ammonium hydroxide. The phase structure, morphology and electromagnetic parameters of the Fe3O4/ZnO core-shell nanocomposites were investigated. The results indicated that the concentration of the solvent was responsible for controlling the morphology of the composites, which further influenced their impedance matching and microwave absorption properties. Moreover, Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposites exhibited an enhanced absorption capacity in comparison with the naked Fe3O4 nanospheres. Specifically, the minimum reflection loss value reached -50.79 dB at 4.38 GHz when the thickness was 4.5 mm. It is expected that the Fe3O4/ZnO core-shell structured nanocomposites could be a promising candidate as high-performance microwave absorbers.