Microwave Permittivity, Permeability, and Absorption of Ni Nanoplatelet Composites

The Ni nanoplatelets with an average diameter of 75 nm and an average thickness of 10 nm are coated with MnO2 by a simple solution phase chemical method. The MnO2-coated Ni nanoplatelets are dispersed in paraffin wax to form the composite samples of the magnetic filler dispersed in the nonmagnetic insulating matrix. The effect of the Ni nanoplatelet volume fraction on the complex permittivity, complex permeability, and microwave absorption of the composites has been studied in the frequency range of 0.1-10 GHz. The complex permittivity of the composites with different volume fractions of the Ni nanoplatelets is almost constant in the 0.1-10 GHz frequency range. The complex permeability of the composites shows several resonance peaks. Besides the natural resonance peak, the exchange resonance peaks are observed. The composite with 17% volume fraction of Ni nanoplatelets has excellent microwave absorption properties of a minimum reflection loss value -31 dB at 9.1 GHz for a thickness of 2 mm and a broad absorption bandwidth of 2.3-10 GHz (R < -10 dB). The Ni nanoplatelets are a possible candidate as high performance microwave absorption filler. For the Ni nanoplatelet composites, the magnetic loss is the dominant term for microwave absorption.