Flexible ultra-thin Fe3O4/MnO2 core-shell decorated CNT composite with enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption performance

High reflection loss, wide bandwidth and low density are desirable attributes of electromagnetic wave absorption materials. Here, an ultra-thin MnO2/Fe3O4/carbon nanotube film has been synthesized in two steps using solvothermal deposition and electrochemical deposition. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles and the MnO2 sheets form a nano-scale core-shell structure on the surface of the carbon nanotube film. A series of this hierarchical composite film with different shell structures and MnO2 weight ratios were successfully synthesized. Their unique micro-structure greatly enhances the electromagnetic wave absorption capability of the composites. Instrinsic ferromagnetism is confirmed by the magnetic hysteresis loops. The strong couplings among dielectric loss, hysteresis loss and multiple scattering resulted in the reflection loss up to −42.2 dB with the bandwidth of 7.1 GHz at 10% MnO2 weight ratio for a flexible composite film of 1 mm thick.