Preparation of multi-walled carbon nanotube-Fe composites and their application as light weight and broadband electromagnetic wave absorbers

Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-Fe composites were prepared via the metal organic chemical vapor deposition by depositing iron pentacarbonyl on the surface of MWCNTs. The structural and morphological analyses demonstrated that Fe nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of the MWCNTs. The electromagnetic properties of the MWCNTs were significantly changed, and the absorbing capacity evidently improved after the Fe deposition on the MWCNT surface. A minimum reflection loss of -29.4 dB was observed at 8.39 GHz, and the less than -10 dB bandwidth was about 10.6 GHz, which covered the whole X band (8.2-12.4 GHz) and the whole Ku band (12.4-18 GHz), indicating that the MWCNT-Fe composites could be used as an effective microwave absorption material.