Fabrication of nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide/tricobalt tetraoxide composite aerogels with high efficiency, broadband microwave absorption, and good compression recovery performance

The fabrication of advanced graphene-based microwave absorbing materials with thin thickness, wide bandwidth, strong absorption strength, and low filling ratio remains a huge challenge. In this paper, nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide/tricobalt tetraoxide (NRGO/Co3O4) composite aerogels were synthesized by a three-step method of solvothermal reaction, high-temperature calcination, and hydrothermal self-assembly. The results showed that the attained NRGO/Co3O4 composite aerogels had a unique three-dimensional porous network structure, extremely low bulk density, and good compression recovery. Furthermore, the effect of the addition amounts of flower-like Co3O4 on the complex dielectric constant and microwave absorption properties of NRGO/Co3O4 composite aerogels was investigated. When the addition amount of Co3O4 was equal to 15 mg, the prepared binary composite aerogel showed the strongest absorption strength of –62.78 dB and a wide absorption bandwidth of 5.5 GHz at a thin thickness of 2.13 mm and a low filling ratio of 15 wt.%. It was worth noting that the maximum absorption bandwidth could reach 6.32 GHz (11.68–18 GHz, spanning the entire Ku-band) at a thickness of 2.24 mm. In addition, the possible microwave absorption mechanism of NRGO/Co3O4 composite aerogels was also proposed. Therefore, this paper will provide a new and simple strategy for preparing RGO-based porous nanocomposites as lightweight, efficient, and broadband microwave absorbers.