Three-dimensional porous nanocomposite of highly dispersed Fe3O4 nanoparticles on carbon nanofibers for high-performance microwave absorbents

A novel cost-effective three-dimensional (3D) porous nanocomposite of bacterial cellulose (BC) derived carbon nanofibers anchored with highly dispersed Fe3O4 nanoparticles was synthesized via a facile pyrolysis of BC (PBC) and subsequent in situ precipitation of Fe3O4 on PBC nanofibers. The morphology, structure, and electromagnetic properties of PBC/Fe3O4 nanocomposite were investigated. It is found that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles with a size of only about 5.4 +/- 0.7 nm are highly dispersed on the surface of PBC nanofibers after surface oxidization. The PBC/Fe3O4 nanocomposite exhibits extraordinary microwave absorption properties with a minimum reflection loss (RL) of -62.1 dB at 9.12 GHz with a thickness of 3.4 mm. Furthermore, the bandwidth of RL less than -10 dB can reach 5.92 GHz with a matching thickness of 2.5 mm. It is believed that this PBC/Fe3O4 nanocomposite promises great potential as an ideal high-performance microwave absorption material of low cost, light weight, small thickness, high microwave absorption intensity, and wide absorption band.