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Synthesis and microwave absorption enhancement of yolk–shell Fe3O4@C microspheres

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Abstract

Rational design on the microstructure of microwave-absorbing materials is paving the way for upgrading their performances in electromagnetic pollution prevention. In this study, a Fe3O4/C composite with unique yolk–shell microstructure (YS-Fe3O4@C) is successfully fabricated by a silica-assisted route. It is found that carbon shells in this composite can make up the shortages of Fe3O4 microspheres in dielectric loss ability, while they may more or less attenuate the intrinsically magnetic loss of Fe3O4 microspheres. The microwave absorption properties of YS-Fe3O4@C are evaluated in the frequency range of 2.0–18.0 GHz in terms of the measured complex permittivity and complex permeability. The results demonstrate that YS-Fe3O4@C can exhibit much better performance than bare Fe3O4 microspheres and individual carbon materials, as well as core–shell Fe3O4/C composite (CS-Fe3O4@C), where strong reflection loss and wide response bandwidth can be achieved simultaneously. With an absorber thickness of 2.0 mm, the maximum reflection loss is −73.1 dB at 14.6 GHz and a bandwidth over −10.0 dB is in the range of 12.3–18.0 GHz. It can be proved that the unique yolk–shell microstructure is helpful to reinforce the dielectric loss ability and create an optimized matching of characteristic impedance in the composite.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the financial support from Natural Science Foundation of China (21676065, 21371039, and 21571043), and the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (B201405).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

    Chunhua Tian, Yunchen Du, Chunsheng Cui, Zhiliang Deng, Ping Xu, Rong Qiang, Ying Wang & Xijiang Han

  2. Physics Section, Medical Technology Department, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar, 161006, Heilongjiang, China

    Chunhua Tian & Jianlei Xue

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  1. Chunhua Tian
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  2. Yunchen Du
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  3. Chunsheng Cui
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Correspondence to Yunchen Du or Xijiang Han.

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Tian, C., Du, Y., Cui, C. et al. Synthesis and microwave absorption enhancement of yolk–shell Fe3O4@C microspheres. J Mater Sci 52, 6349–6361 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-0866-3

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