Enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption performances of Co3O4 nanocube/reduced graphene oxide composite

The Co3O4 nanocube/reduced graphene oxide (Co3O4/RGO) composite paper has been firstly fabricated via a simple process. Several analytical techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been employed to characterize the Co3O4/RGO composite. The results indicated that the Co3O4 nanocubes attached to the RGO sheets, and that the average edge length of Co3O4 nanocubes is about 200 nm. The obtained composite exhibited a maximum reflection loss of −32.3 dB at 12.4 GHz with a coating layer thickness of 2.5 mm, and the effective absorption bandwidth with reflection loss less than −10 dB is up to 10.5 GHz (from 5.5 to 16.0 GHz) when an appropriate absorber thickness between 2 and 5 mm is chosen. Such high microwave absorption composite can be used as promising candidate for the new type of electromagnetic wave absorptive material.