Preparation, characterization and electromagnetic properties of carbon nanotubes/Fe3O4 inorganic hybrid material

A novel carbon nanotubes/Fe3O4 inorganic hybrid material was prepared by in situ decomposition of the precursor ferric chloride crystal and CNTs in liquid ethylene glycol. XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS were used to characterize the as-prepared products. Results indicated that the monodispersed magnetite microspheres with the size of about 100 nm were uniformly self-assembled along the surface of the carbon nanotubes. The formation of magnetite nanoparticles on CNTs was through an aggregation process of subparticles on the surface of CNTs. The ferromagnetic signature emerged with the saturated magnetization of 60.94 emu g−1, and the coercive force of 148.59 Oe at 300 K. The measured relative complex permittivity indicated a high resistivity existence in the CNTs/Fe3O4 inorganic hybrid material. The magnetic loss was caused mainly by natural resonance, which is in good agreement with the Kittel equation results. The novel electromagnetic hybrid material is believed to have potential applications in the microwave absorbing performances.