The flaky porous Fe3O4 with tunable dimensions for enhanced microwave absorption performance in X and C bands

Special electric and magnetic characteristics make Fe3O4 widely applied in the electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption region. However, for pure Fe3O4, it is still a challenge to simultaneously obtain high absorption intensity and broadband absorption at a low thickness, owing to its low dielectric property. As we realized, flake configuration and the porous structure have obviously promote the EM wave absorption property. Because the former can lead to multi-reflection between flakes and the latter is conductive to interface polarization, flaky Fe3O4 with a porous and coarse surface was designed to overcome the deficiency of traditional Fe3O4 particles. The experimental results demonstrate that the flaky configuration is conductive to enhancing the dielectric coefficient and optimizing impedance matching. Moreover, the complex permittivity rises with the aspect ratio of the sheet. Under a suitable dimension, the flaky Fe3O4 could acquire targeted EM wave absorption capacity in the X band (8–12 GHz). In detail, the maximum reflection loss (RL) could reach a strong intensity of −49 dB at 2.05 mm. The effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) with RL below −10 dB is 4.32 (7.52–11.84) GHz, which is almost equivalent to the whole X band (8–12 GHz). Even more exciting, when regulating the thickness between 2.05 and 3.05 mm, the EAB could cover the entire C and X bands (4–12 GHz). This study provides a good reference for the future development of other ferromagnetic materials toward specific microwave bands.