Electromagnetic and microwave absorption characteristics of PMMA composites filled with a nanoporous resorcinol formaldehyde based carbon aerogel

Abstract

Nanostructured carbons have opened up new perspectives in fields of electromagnetic (EM) applications.The present study aims at the processing of microwave absorbing (MA) materials based on carbon aerogels (CAs) in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) matrix to be used in X-band frequency. CAs were synthesized by carbonization of a sol-gel derived organic gel from resorcinol and formaldehyde as starting materials. Microwave attenuation properties of the prepared composites were investigated in terms of CAs particle size distribution (PSD) and mass fraction. To do so, the optimal PSD was initially determined by assessing the EM attenuation performance of the CAs/PMMA composites with constant mass loading (10 wt%) and differing particle sizes. Next, the EM properties of the selected CAs with the optimal particle size was measured as a function of mass fraction varying from 1 to 15 wt% in order to obtain a highly efficient CAs based MA. The results indicate that the dielectric loss of CAs composites can be enhanced by optimizing the PSD as well as the mass fraction of CAs. The effective absorption bandwidth of composites containing 10 wt% of CAs exceeded 3.7 GHz at a very thin thickness of 1.9 mm indicating that these materials present advantages as microwave absorbers.

Sustainable Carbon Xerogel in the Production of Electromagnetic Radar Absorbing Composites in the Ku-Band

“…Recently the rapid development of technologies for electronic devices has increased the electromagnetic pollution [1][2][3] promoting a growing research interest in developing new radar-absorbing materials (RAM) 2 . However, producing materials with suitable properties such as low density, great absorbing properties, and low cost is still a challenge 1,2 .…”

“…Recently the rapid development of technologies for electronic devices has increased the electromagnetic pollution [1][2][3] promoting a growing research interest in developing new radar-absorbing materials (RAM) 2 . However, producing materials with suitable properties such as low density, great absorbing properties, and low cost is still a challenge 1,2 . At the same time, there is an increasing stimulation worldwide to produce sustainable materials due to the natural resource scarcity, climate change, and global warming as addressed by COP 26 4 .…”

Morphology control of eco-friendly chitosan-derived carbon aerogels for efficient microwave absorption at thin thickness and thermal stealth

“…4,5 However, the research of carbon-based absorbing materials mainly focuses on powder materials, which need to be further processed into a coating for later use, and increase the burden of processing technology. [6][7][8] In addition, most of the research works only concentrate on strong attenuation, thin thickness and wide bandwidth, and obtained absorbers does not satisfy the practical application possibility. In fact, a qualified absorber can only survive with multifunctionality in a complex environment.…”

Preparation and application of sunlight absorbing ultra-black carbon aerogel/graphene oxide membrane for solar steam generation systems

“…Main pore sizes are found to be in the range of 10 nm to 30 nm, which are indicative of mesopores. 50,51 This porous texture is necessary for efficient SSG system and makes the CA a suitable absorbent material to be used in these systems.…”