Optimal design of a lightweight and thin radar absorbing nanocomposite

Recently, attention to polymeric nanocomposites has gained a great extent as they present new opportunities to provide superior properties in microwave absorbing materials. In this study polystyrene (PS) nanocomposites containing various nano-fillers were successfully synthesized and employed as microwave absorbing materials. The mentioned materials are usually designed to solve protection against electromagnetic interference in wireless communication systems and high frequency circuit mechanisms. In this study the performance of three various polystyrene (PS) nanocomposites containing: semi-conductor zinc oxide, non-metallic conductive graphene oxide and magnetic Fe3O4 were compared. The fillers type was selected as variable parameter and its influence on the electromagnetic wave absorption and reflection loss (RL) amount was investigated. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used in morphological and particle size study of the nanocomposites. The electromagnetic wave absorption properties of nanocomposites were studied and compared using a vector network analyzer (frequency range of 5-8 GHz). The results indicate that at the same preparation conditions the polystyrene/graphene oxide nanocomposites have higher absorption compared with others.