Investigation of the microwave-absorbing properties of Fe-filled carbon nanotubes

Abstract Carbon nanotubes encapsulated Fe nanowire composites were synthesized via pyrolyzing of ferrocene. The reflection loss (R.L.), matching frequency ( f m ) and matching thickness ( d m ) were calculated using the theory of the absorbing wall. The electromagnetic properties and microwave-absorbing characteristic effects by the encapsulation of metal Fe were investigated in a frequency range of 8–18 GHz. With matching thickness of 3.5 mm, the maximum reflection loss is about − 22.73 dB for the absorber. The bandwidth corresponding to the reflection loss below − 10 dB is more than 4.22 GHz. With increasing thickness, the peak value of the reflection loss shifts to a lower frequency.