Nanostructured Barium Titanate/Carbon Nanotubes Incorporated Polyaniline as Synergistic Electromagnetic Wave Absorbers

The three-dimensional (3D) conductive network structures formed by barium titanate/carbon nanotubes incorporated polyaniline were favorable for strengthening electromagnetic absorption capability. Herein, an easy and flexible method consisting of sol-gel technique, in situ polymerization, and subsequent mechanical method have been developed to prepare the barium titanate/carbon nanotubes incorporated polyaniline (CNTs/BaTiO3/PANI or CBP) ternary composites. The dielectric properties and microwave absorption properties of CNTs/BaTiO3/PANI composites were investigated in the frequency range of 2–18 GHz by vector network analyzer. Interestingly, it is found that the CNTs/BaTiO3/PANI composites with 3D conductive network structures presented outstanding electromagnetic absorption properties, which may be attributed to the high impedance matching behavior and improved dielectric loss ability and novel synergistic effect. Additionally, it also can be supposed that the “geometrical effect” of composite was more beneficial to absorbing the incident electromagnetic wave. The CNTs/BaTiO3/PANI composite (the mass ratio of CNTs/BaTiO3 to PANI is 2 : 3) exhibits the best microwave absorption properties, of which the minimum reflection loss value can reach −30.9 dB at 8 GHz and the absorption bandwidth with a reflection loss blew −10 dB ranges from 7.5 to 10.2 GHz.