Enhanced electromagnetic wave absorption of nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide aerogels with LaFeO3 cluster modifications

Today, electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorbing materials with strong absorption capacity alone are hardly enough to meet the growing problem of EMW pollution. This work is the first designs and synthesizes LaFeO3-decorated nitrogen (N)-doped reduced graphene oxide aerogel (LFO/N-rGO) novel composites by a simple hydrothermal method. When the mass ratio of the LaFeO3 (LFO) nanoparticles: graphene oxide (GO): urea is 1:5:7.5, LFO/N-rGO achieves broadband absorption while possessing strong electromagnetic wave absorption capability. A strong reflection loss (RL) of −64.5 dB is obtained at 9.2 GHz. In addition, the maximum effective absorption bandwidth with a 2.83 mm thickness can reach up to 6.72 GHz. The EMW absorption mechanism analysis shows that the excellent microwave absorption capability is mainly attributed to the enhanced multiple reflections and multi-scattering, enhanced interfacial polarization process, proper conduction loss, and optimized impedance matching characteristics. Herein, this work proposes a new approach to improve the microwave absorption capability of N-doped reduced graphene oxide-based composites and provides a novel strategy to design EMW absorbing materials with wide effective absorption bandwidth and strong absorption capacity.