Superparamagnetic NiFe2O4 particles on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)–graphene: Synthesis, characterization and their excellent microwave absorption properties

Abstract The ternary nanocomposites of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), graphene and NiFe2O4 (PEDOT–GN–NiFe2O4) were synthesized via a two-step method, in situ polymerization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) in the first step and followed by the crystallization of NiFe2O4 particles in the second step. The ternary nanocomposites were characterized by XRD, TEM, XPS, Raman spectroscopy, TG and VSM. TEM results indicated that NiFe2O4 particles ranged from 10 to 15 nm uniformly dispersed on PEDOT–GN. The investigation of the electromagnetic absorbability reveals that the ternary nanocomposites exhibit excellent microwave absorption properties and wide absorption bandwidths. When the thickness is 2 mm, the maximum reflection loss is −45.4 dB at 15.6 GHz and the absorption bandwidths with the reflection loss below −10 dB and −20 dB are 4.6 GHz and 1.7 GHz, respectively. Compared to PEDOT–GN, GN–NiFe2O4 and PEDOT–NiFe2O4, the enhanced microwave absorption properties of PEDOT–GN–NiFe2O4 are due to the improved impedance matching and the enhanced interfacial effects. Furthermore, our development strategy provides a feasible method to obtain ternary nanocomposites based on conducting polymers, graphene and magnetic particles.