Enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption of magnetite-spinach derived carbon composite

The high density, high cost, and environmental pollution hinder the application of iron-based electromagnetic wave-absorbing materials. Although bio-carbon is a green and lightweight dielectric wave-absorbing material, the wave-absorbing performance of bio-carbon is still limited. This work successfully combined magnetite Fe₃O₄ with porous carbon derived from spinach stem using hydrothermal and calcination methods. This process optimizes the matching of the dielectric constant and magnetoconductivity of the as prepared composite material, resulting in a significant improvement in electromagnetic microwave absorption capacity. XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, VSM and EMW absorption network analyzer are used to detect and characterize the samples. The composite material shows a excellent minimum reflection loss value of −48.81 dB and an efficacious absorption bandwidth of 4.73 GHz at the optimal raw material ratio. The tests also show the porous structure of the sample with the coercivity and saturation magnetization of 29.36 Oe and 10.75 emu/g, respectively. The test results indicate that the excellent electromagnetic wave absorption is due to the synergistic effect of multiple reflection, Debye relaxation, and interfacial polarization. This Fe₃O₄-bio-carbon composite is cheap and simple to prepare, and it also has excellent wave absorption performance. Therefore, it shows great application potential in civilian and military electromagnetic wave absorption fields.