Fabrication of Co–Zn stannate (CoxZn1-xSnO3) hollow balls based 3D rGO aerogels with excellent electromagnetic wave absorption properties

In this report, we synthesized novel Co–Zn co-doped stannate (Co x Zn 1-x SnO 3 ) hollow balls via an ion co-precipitation method. The as synthesized Co x Zn 1-x SnO 3 exhibited excellent dielectric and magnetic properties , which were conducive to the microwave absorption. We also embedded the as prepared Co x Zn 1-x SnO 3 nanoparticles into rGO 3D aerogels (rGO@Co x Zn 1-x SnO 3 ) to enhance their microwave absorbability. Several characterization techniques were utilized to investigate the structures, morphologies, compositions and specific surface areas of the Co x Zn 1-x SnO 3 and rGO@Co x Zn 1-x SnO 3 aerogels respectively. In addition, associated electromagnetic parameters of various as prepared samples were also measured to simulate the microwave absorbability of the 3D rGO@Co x Zn 1-x SnO 3 aerogels. The simulation results indicated that the maximum reflection loss (RL max ) of rGO@Co 0.7 Zn 0.3 SnO 3 could reach up to −38 dB at 10.6 GHz with an absorber thickness of only 3 mm. The maximum efficient absorption bandwidth (EAB) of the rGO@Co 0.7 Zn 0.3 SnO 3 hollow balls was over 8 GHz (from 10 GHz to 18 GHz) with an absorber thickness of only 3.5 mm. The enhanced performance was ascribed to high attenuation capability, reasonable impedance matching, multiple interfacial polarizations and proper synergistic effect. This work demonstrated that the rGO@Co x Zn 1-x SnO 3 aerogels with light-weight and strong microwave absorbability have great potential to be used as a microwave absorber.