A study on microwave absorption properties of polyaniline/nitrile rubber/graphene/Fe3O4 composites with a thickness of 0.7 mm and high flexibility

Abstract The genotoxic effect of microwave radiation on humans is one of the leading causes of some diseases like cancer. Despite many reported materials for microwave absorption, there is still a demand for a super‐thin and flexible microwave absorber. In the present work, we synthesized Fe 3 O 4 /graphene/polyaniline/nitrile butadiene rubber composites with a thickness of 0.7 mm using a melt mixing method. Then, we comprehensively studied the electromagnetic and microwave absorption properties of the composites from 8 to 12 GHz. The composite with 38 wt% Fe 3 O 4 and 6 wt% graphene exhibited the highest microwave absorption of more than 8 dB in the entire range of 8–12 GHz, with a minimum reflection loss of −14 dB at 10.3 GHz. By increasing the weight content of Fe 3 O 4 and graphene, the imaginary part of dielectric permeability and magnetic permeability initially went up and then declined, resulting in poor impedance matching. Hence, we precisely controlled the weight content of the fillers to reach the highest impedance matching and attenuation constant. Consequently, this work opened up a unique way for developing super‐thin, lightweight, flexible microwave‐absorbing materials.