A group of researchers from Anhui University of Science and Technology in China have developed a solution to reduce electromagnetic pollution. According to the paper published in NANO, the researchers have synthesized PANI/Zn ferrite composites which have shown excellent microwave absorption performance.
PANI/Zn ferrite composites were synthesized by a two-step hydrothermal and in-situ polymerization method. Zn ferrite was used to adjust the impedance matching and improve PANI magnetic loss capability. The synergy of fluffy structure, dielectric loss, magnetic loss, interfacial polarization and phase cancellation effect lead to the attenuation of microwave energy. Furthermore, the fluffy structure enhanced the microwave transmission path and attenuation efficiency. These factors make this composite a good microwave absorber and an ideal material in the electromagnetic wave absorption field.
Microwave absorption materials with reflection loss (RL) values of less than 10 dB represent that 90% of microwave was absorbed. The minimum RL values of this composite can reach -54.4 dB with coating thickness of 1.4 mm. The bandwidth about RL below -10 dB was 4.8 GHz at 1.6 mm. The excellent microwave absorption performance of PANI/Zn ferrite composites suggested that it can be used as an excellent absorber with thin coating thickness, strong absorption and broad bandwidth.
Microwave absorption materials have been studied by many researchers to reduce or eliminate microwave pollution. Because of rapid popularity and development of electronic devices, especially mobile phones, computers and wireless routers, microwave pollution has been intensified in recent years. PANI/Fe ferrite materials have great potential applications in information security, healthcare, electronic countermeasures and so on. The functional materials of PANI/Fe ferrite with lightweight, thin coating thickness, high efficiency and broadband absorption properties are also easy to synthesize, which is beneficial to industrial mass production.
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Graduate Innovation Fund Project of Anhui University of Science and Technology. The corresponding authors of this study are Ye Liu, Zhenfeng Liu, Huan Wang and Hanxiao Jia.
Read the full paper here.
