Synergetic impedance matching and loss ability towards efficient microwave absorption of Fe3O4 nanoparticles anchored on SiC whiskers via a simple solvothermal method

Abstract Design and construction of outstanding electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbers with strong absorption, broad frequency bandwidth, lightweight and thin thickness through a simple and low-cost method is extremely desirable but still remains greatly challenging. In present paper, Fe3O4 nanoparticles anchored on SiC whiskers (FSWs) were successfully constructed via a simple solvothermal approach. A substantial enhancement of EMW absorption capacity of FSWs is achieved, whose minimum reflection loss (RLmin) value reaches −72.33 dB with a matching thickness of 2.55 mm and the maximum effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) is up to 6.06 GHz. Moreover, FSWs exhibit tunability of EMW absorption performance between the whole X-band and Ku-band just by tailoring their thickness, whose qualified absorption bandwidth over −10 dB is up to 14.1 GHz, indicating that FSWs might be considered as a promising candidate for practical applications in functional EMW absorption and shielding devices. The reason for enhanced EMW absorption performance should be attributed to the great complementarities between the dielectric loss and the magnetic loss, leading to the matched characteristic impedance and enhanced attenuation constant.