Electromagnetic and microwave absorbing properties of RGO@hematite core–shell nanostructure/PVDF composites

Abstract RGO@hematite nanohybrids were fabricated by in situ growth method under mild wet-chemical conditions. A series of characterization results indicate that the as-prepared hematite nanoparticles with relatively uniform sizes are embedded in RGO layers to form unique core–shell nanostructures. As an absorbing material, the RGO@hematite/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) composites were prepared at various loadings of RGO@hematite (0–15 wt%), and they exhibited strong microwave absorption in the microwave range of 2.0–18.0 GHz. For example, RGO@hematite/PVDF composite with 5 wt% loading has a strong absorbing peak at 5.76 GHz and achieves a maximum absorbing value of −43.97 dB. The absorbing peak position moves to lower frequencies with the increase of RGO@hematite loading. The mechanism for the enhanced wave absorbing properties was explained in detail.