Polypyrrole/Fe3O4 nanocomposites anchored on graphene toward efficient electromagnetic wave absorption performance

The ternary nanocomposites of polypyrrole/Fe3O4/graphene (PPy/Fe3O4/RGO) have been prepared via a two-step method. PPy/Fe3O4 composites have been initially anchored on GO surface by chemical one-step method following by reducing GO. The electromagnetic wave absorption (EMWA) performance of composites can be tuned by adjusting the amount of pyrrole monomers. The maximum reflection loss of the PPy/Fe3O4/RGO-0.5 (pyrrole:0.5 mL) composite is up to -66.0 dB at 14.88 GHz and the absorption bandwidths exceeding -10 dB were 5.76 GHz with absorber thickness of 2.5 mm. The investigation of the electromagnetic absorb-ability reveals that PPy/Fe3O4/RGO exhibits enhanced electromagnetic absorption properties compared to Fe3O4/RGO, which is mainly ascribed to the improved impedance matching, the enhanced interfacial effects and geometric effect. Furthermore, this strategy expands the scope of the electromagnetic wave absorption materials. It confirms that modification of graphene with PPy and Fe3O4 makes the ternary nanocomposites have a promising future in electromagnetic wave absorption materials.