Binary Au iron oxide nanoparticle/carbon complex for broadband electromagnetic wave absorption

Electromagnetic (EM) pollution is widespread in today's world and has been proven to be harmful to humans. Electromagnetic interference can cause improper functions in high-precision instruments. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop high-performance electromagnetic wave absorption materials. Due to impedance matching and synergy between magnetic and dielectric loss, nanostructured composite materials can be utilized to attenuate electromagnetic waves. In this work, nanostructured composites, binary Au/iron oxide nanoparticles embedded in precursor-derived carbon, were prepared through pyrolysis at 700 °C, 800 °C and 900 °C to absorb EM waves. The results indicated that the nanocomposites treated at 800 °C exhibited excellent wave absorption. The minimum reflection loss value was −48.35 dB at 13.2 GHz at a thickness of 2.3 mm. The effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) value was as large as 5.53 GHz at 2.3 mm, nearly covering the entire Ku band. The wide EAB is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of dielectric loss and magnetic loss within the Au iron oxide NP/carbon nanostructure. Moreover, this work demonstrates that iron oxide NP/carbon is an excellent wave absorption material that offers broad EMA bandwidth and high performance at low material thickness, showing potential in the field of radar wave absorption materials.