Effects of three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide coupled with nickel nanoparticles on the microwave absorption of carbon fiber-based composites

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) has been widely used for improved electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and mechanical properties, allowing for broad applications in electronics and aerospace industry. In the present work, two-dimensional RGO interfaces were introduced into the one-dimensional carbon fiber (CF) networks for synthesizing a three-dimensional carbon fiber/reduced graphene oxide (CF-RGO) composite textile. Besides, the zero-dimensional nickel nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of CF-RGO to prepare a lightweight and flexible carbon fiber/reduced graphene oxide/nickel (CF-RGO-Ni). Furthermore, the microscopic morphologies, X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectras, saturation magnetization, dielectric parameter and microwave absorption property of the as-prepared samples were characterized. Consequently, The results show that the dielectric parameters and microwave absorption property of the as-prepared composite textiles would substantially influenced by the presence of RGO nanosheets and nickel nanoparticles. Furthermore, both the thickness of the composite textiles and the proportion of the composite in wax-based composites have been studied to explore their effects on the microwave absorption performance. The results present that the qualified bandwidth (<-10 dB) of the CF-RGO and CF-RGO-Ni composite textiles would be tuned by the RGO nanosheets and nickel nanoparticles, and the related mechanisms have been discussed.