A new multicomponent material based on carbonyl iron/carbon nanofiber/lanthanum–strontium–manganite as microwave absorbers in the range of 8–12 GHz

We report the design of a new multicomponent microwave absorber in the X band based on carbonyl iron (CI)/carbon nanofiber (CNF)/lanthanum–strontium manganese oxide (LSMO). The citrate precursor method has been used to synthesize LSMO nanopowder. The phase identification has been investigated using XRD patterns. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and vector network analyzer (VNA) are used to analyze the morphology of the different components and the magnetic, electromagnetic and microwave absorption properties of the final composite absorbers. To the best of our knowledge, the use of this class of multicomponent microwave absorber, has not been explored before. The results indicate that substituting CI by increasing amounts of CNF and LSMO, not only decreases the weight of the designed absorber, but also has a synergistic effect that promotes its attenuation properties. The absorber of 2 mm thickness and only 30 wt% of loading ratio exhibits an average reflection loss of −8.75 dB over the range 9–12 GHz, while its corresponding absorber without LSMO has only a RL around −5 dB.