Novel ternary Co3O4/CeO2/CNTs composites for high-performance broadband electromagnetic wave absorption

Co3O4/CeO2 nanoparticles decorated CNTs (Co3O4/CeO2/CNTs) composites were synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal route. The micro-structure examinations of the ternary composites indicated that the CeO2 and Co3O4 nanoparticles with size ranges of 5–10 nm were homogeneously deposited onto the CNTs surface. When applied for the attenuation of electromagnetic (EM) wave, the ternary Co3O4/CeO2/CNTs composites exhibit enhanced EM wave absorption properties than pure CNTs and previously reported CNTs based composites owing to the improved impedance matching and multiple polarization relaxations. The minimum reflection loss (RL) of the ternary composites reached − 59.82 dB at 11.92 GHz with a thin thickness of 1.73 mm, and the effective absorption bandwidth (RL < − 10 dB) covered as broad as 5.20 GHz (12.76–17.96 GHz) for a thickness of only 1.42 mm. These results demonstrated that the as-prepared Co3O4/CeO2/CNTs composites with a facile synthetic process and strong absorption performance could be a promising candidate for EM wave absorption.