Construction of Fe0.64Ni0.36@graphite nanoparticles via corrosion-like transformation from NiFe2O4 and surface graphitization in flexible carbon nanofibers to achieve strong wideband microwave absorption

Jiaju Wang; Xiaoli Sheng; Shujin Hao; Guanting Liu; Rongsheng Cai; Xuyan Xue; Yiqian Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.11.145

Construction of Fe_0.64Ni_0.36@graphite nanoparticles via corrosion-like transformation from NiFe₂O₄ and surface graphitization in flexible carbon nanofibers to achieve strong wideband microwave absorption

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Mar:657:193-207. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.11.145. Epub 2023 Nov 25.

Authors

Jiaju Wang¹, Xiaoli Sheng¹, Shujin Hao¹, Guanting Liu¹, Rongsheng Cai², Xuyan Xue³, Yiqian Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Physics, Qingdao University, No. 308, Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, PR China.
² Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. Electronic address: rongsheng.cai@manchester.ac.uk.
³ College of Physics, Qingdao University, No. 308, Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, PR China. Electronic address: xuexy@qdu.edu.cn.
⁴ College of Physics, Qingdao University, No. 308, Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071, PR China. Electronic address: yqwang@qdu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38039880
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.11.145

Abstract

Recently, microwave absorption (MA) materials have attracted intensive research attention for their ability to counteract the effects of ever-growing electromagnetic pollution. However, conventional microwave absorbers suffer from complex fabrication processes, poor stability and different optimal thicknesses for minimum reflection loss (RL_min) and widest effective absorption bandwidth (EAB). To address these issues, we have used electrospinning followed by high-temperature annealing in argon to develop a flexible microwave absorber with strong wideband absorption. The MA properties of the carbon nanofibers (CNFs) can be tuned by adjusting annealing temperature, and are dependent on the composition and microstructure of the CNFs. The absorber membrane obtained at 800 °C consists of Fe_0.64Ni_0.36@graphite core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in CNFs, formed via a corrosion-like transformation from NiFe₂O₄ to Fe_0.64Ni_0.36 followed by surface graphitization. This nanostructure greatly enhances magnetic-dielectric synergistic loss to achieve superior MA properties, with an RL_min of -57.7 dB and an EAB of 6.48 GHz (11.20-17.68 GHz) both acquired at a thickness of 2.1 mm. This work provides useful insights into structure-property relationship of the CNFs, sheds light on the formation mechanism of Fe_0.64Ni_0.36@graphite NPs, and offers a simple synthesis route to fabricate light-weight and flexible microwave absorbers.

Keywords: Carbon-magnetic composite; Corrosion-like transformation; Dielectric-magnetic synergistic loss; Electrospinning; Microwave absorption.