Synthesis of SiC/graphene nanocomposites by atmospheric plasmas for improving efficient of microwave absorption

Abstract

SiC/graphene nanocomposites were rapidly synthesized by hexamethyldisilane and methane decomposition in atmospheric plasmas. Results indicate that the products without methane addition were SiC/C composites composed of SiC nanoparticles with dimension of 5–30 nm and carbon nanoshells with few layers. With the addition of methane, graphene nanosheets with 1–8 layers generated, and they attached with SiC nanoparticles and carbon nanoshells, forming SiC/graphene nanocomposites with point-surface structure. The formation of graphene nanosheets improved the microwave absorption ability, and the optimal reflection loss approached −65.7 dB at 11 GHz with an absorber thickness of 1.6 mm. Electromagnetic parameters indicated the improving microwave absorption was associated to the enhanced polarization/conduction loss due to the formation of point-surface structure.

Keywords:

• Nanocomposites
• SiC
• graphene
• microwave absorption
• atmospheric plasmas

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 12075242, 11675177, and 11705202).