Enhanced microwave absorption properties of N-doped graphene@PANI nanorod arrays hierarchical structures modified by Fe3O4 nanoclusters

•N-doped graphene@PANI@Fe3O4 nanoclusters hierarchical structures were fabricated.•The reflection loss of the composites is below −10 dB in 10.4–15.5 GHz.•The maximum absorption of the composites is −40.8 dB at 14.8 GHz.

The hierarchical structures of N-doped graphene (NG)@PANI nanorod arrays modified with Fe3O4 nanocluster have been fabricated by a hydrothermal reaction. The as-prepared (NG@PANI@Fe3O4) composites were characterized by XRD, Raman and FTIR spectra, VSM, XPS spectroscopy, TEM and FESEM. The results reveal that the surfaces of NG@PANI nanorod arrays are randomly covered by Fe3O4 nanocluster with an average size of about 40 nm. With Fe3O4 nanoclusters coated on the surfaces of NG@PANI nanorod arrays, the composites exhibit superparamagnetic characteristics at room temperature. Moreover, the microwave absorption properties of both NG@PANI nanorod arrays and NG@PANI@Fe3O4 nanocluster were investigated between 2 and 18 GHz microwave frequency bands. The electromagnetic data demonstrates that NG@PANI@Fe3O4 nanocluster composites exhibit significantly enhanced microwave absorption properties compared with graphene@Fe3O4, which probably originates from improved level of impedance matching and interfacial polarization.

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