Effect of B4C content and annealing on complex permittivity and microwave-absorption properties of B4C/Al2O3 coatings

The B₄C/Al₂O₃ coatings were fabricated by air plasma spraying technology, and their complex permittivity and microwave absorption properties in the X-band were investigated before and after annealing (500 °C/2 h). Both the real and imaginary parts of the complex permittivity of the coatings decreased after annealing, which can be attributed to the weakening of polarization relaxation intensity and the reduction of electrical conductivity caused by the escape of carbon atoms. In addition, the density of B₄C/Al₂O₃ coatings decreased from 3.01 to 2.16 g/cm³ with increasing B₄C content. The B₄C/Al₂O₃ coatings exhibit a minimum reflection loss (RL) value of ?39.58 dB and the effective absorption bandwidth (RL＜?10 dB, EAB) covers 1.9 GHz at a thickness of 1.6 mm. After annealing, the above coatings still had an EAB of 1 GHz. Therefore, the B₄C/Al₂O₃ coatings can be considered as a promising microwave-absorption candidate with good high-temperature microwave-absorbing performance and low density.     

Structure and magnetic properties of CoFe2O4/SiO2 nanocomposites obtained by sol-gel and post annealing pathways

The influence of the CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles concentration in silica matrix on the structural and magnetic properties of xCoFe₂O₄/(100−x)SiO₂ nanocomposites with x=10, 30, 50, 70 and 90 was studied. Magnetic CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles dispersed in silica matrix was obtained by sol-gel method, followed by annealing at 1100 °C. The X-ray diffraction pattern and FT-IR spectra revealed the single spinel ferrite structure for all samples. The FT-IR spectra also suggested the formation of the amorphous silica matrix. The results showed that the increase of cobalt ferrite concentration (x) in the silica matrix leads to high crystallinity, specific surface area and particle size. The magnetic CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles have spherical shapes and size in the 6–35 nm range. The Mössbauer measurements were fitted with two Zeeman sextets, indicating that all the samples were completely magnetically ordered. The vibrating sample magnetometer studies showed that the saturation magnetization (Ms) and coercivity (Hc) of the CoFe₂O₄ nanocrystals embedded in silica matrix possessed a linear relationship with the mean crystallite size. Also, the saturation magnetization of the studied nanocomposites increases with the increase of cobalt ferrite concentration (x) in the silica matrix.     

聚苯胺/钴铁氧体电磁复合材料的制备及其性能

先采用反向共沉淀法制备了钴铁氧体(CoFe₂O₄)磁性纳米颗粒,并以此为核,基于离子液体(IL)环境下,以苯胺为单体,运用原位聚合和化学氧化聚合法制备得到了既具有电性能又具有磁性能的钴铁氧体/酸掺杂聚苯胺--PANI/CoFe₂O₄(IL)复合材料。通过透射电镜(TEM)、X射线衍射分析(XRD)、红外波谱分析(FT-IR)、振动样品磁强计(VSM)和四探针电导率仪等测试手段研究了该复合材料的结构和性质,结果表明:本文实验条件下,制备得到的CoFe₂O₄具有单一的尖晶石型铁氧体结构,且分散性较好,IL存在的反应条件对其晶型没有影响;含相同量钴铁氧体(0.3g CoFe₂O₄)时,在IL和水相中制备的PANI/CoFe₂O₄复合材料的电导率分别为1.0S/cm和0.4S/cm,而饱和磁强度则分别为19.8emu/g和22.9emu/g。此外,IL下得到的复合材料表现出较好的电包磁结构。     

Effect of morphology on the permeability,mechanical and thermal properties of polypropylene/SiO2 nanocomposites

Spherical silica nanoparticles with 20 and 100 nm diameters and organic‐template layered silica nanoparticles synthesized by the sol‐gel method were melt blended with a polypropylene (PP) matrix in order to study and quantify their effect on the oxygen and water vapor permeability and mechanical and thermal behavior. With regard to barrier properties, the spherical nanoparticles barely increased the oxygen permeability at low loads (≤10 wt%); meanwhile the layered nanoparticles dramatically increased it even at low loading (<5 wt%) probably due to the percolation effect. The changes in water vapor permeability were similar to those in oxygen permeability. The repulsive interaction between nanoparticles and PP forms interconnecting voids where the gas permeates. Tensile stress–strain tests showed that the composites present up to a 56% increase in the elastic modulus with spherical nanoparticles at 20 wt%, while layered nanoparticles show a decrease probably due to agglomerations and voids. Thermogravimetric analysis under inert conditions showed that the nanoparticles improved the PP thermal degradation process through the adsorption of volatile compounds on their surface, where the smaller spherical nanoparticles show the greatest stabilization. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry     

Optimization,structural, optical and magnetic properties of TiO2/CoFe2O4 nanocomposites

Magneto-optical TiO₂/xCoFe₂O₄ nanocomposites having various concentrations of CoFe₂O₄ (x = 2, 4 and 6 wt %) were prepared using facile mechanical mixing. X-ray diffraction was employed for the phase examination and microstructure parameters. X-ray diffraction spectra proved the formation of two separate phases: tetragonal titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and face-centered cubic cobalt iron oxide. The structure was further verified by recognizing the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern recorded by a high-resolution transmission microscope. The optical investigation of the prepared nanocomposites verified that the optical band gap values varied from 3.1 eV for pure TiO₂ to 3.05 eV for TiO₂/CoFe₂O₄ (6 wt %). The refractive index, optical dielectric constant and loss factor were discussed in detail. The nanocomposites (TiO₂/xCoFe₂O₄) demonstrated ferromagnetic characteristics and their magnetic parameters were affected by the CoFe₂O₄ percentage in the composites. The sample x = 2 wt % depicted the maximum magnetic exchange bias at room temperature. Moreover, it showed maximum coercivity (H_C) and magnetic squareness ratio (SQ), which makes it suitable for spintronic applications.     

Confined tailoring of CoFe2O4/MWCNTs hybrid-architectures to tune electromagnetic parameters and microwave absorption with broadened bandwidth

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are highly alluring as an electromagnetic (EM) wave absorber owing to their multi-dimensional structure, high chemical stability, low density, and significant conduction loss, which provide great promises as an excellent EM wave absorber in practical applications. Herein, a simple and controllable solvothermal technique is applied to synthesize cobalt ferrite/MWCNTs (CoFe₂O₄/MWCNTs) hybrid composite. Various analytical techniques were used to investigate the composition, morphological structure, and electromagnetic parameters of the as-prepared hybrid composite. The obtained results revealed that, a strong network of CoFe₂O₄ microspheres interweaved with MWCNTs in the prepared hybrid composite. The resultant CoFe₂O₄/MWCNTs composites achieve a minimum reflection loss (RL_min) of ?50.80 dB at a thickness of 4.2 mm and effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 3.36 GHz at a thickness of 1.6 mm exhibiting the superior RL_min compared to the typical magnetic composite derived absorbers. This research advocates the precise development and designing of unique MWCNTs-based composites as a high-efficient and lightweight electromagnetic wave absorber.     

Low dielectric loss,colossal permittivity,and high breakdown electric field in Al-doped Y2/3Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics

The miniaturization and high capacitance of electronic components are driving the development of high-performance electronic ceramic materials. In this work, we design a new strategy to achieve satisfactory dielectric properties with low loss, colossal permittivity, and a high breakdown electric field (E_b) in Al-doped Y_2/3Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (YCTO) ceramics prepared by a solid-phase synthesis method. The dielectric loss decreased with Al doping in the YCTO. The dielectric constant and the E_b were improved upon Al doping. With Al doping levels of 0.03 and 0.05, Y_2/3Al_0.03Cu_2.97Ti₄O₁₂ and Y_2/3Al_0.05Cu_2.95Ti₄O₁₂ ceramics displayed, respectively, a suppressed loss tangent of about 0.028 and 0.031, a high dielectric constant of approximately 9540 and 11792, and an E_b of approximately 4.32 and 4.54 kV/cm. The improved dielectric properties of the produced ceramics were closely linked to enhanced grain boundaries resistance. This study explores the physical mechanism behind the high performance of the YCTO-based ceramics, and also provides theoretical support for the application of devices comprising YCTO and related materials.     

Preparation,structural, and electrical studies of polyaniline/ZnFe2O4 nanocomposites

Polyaniline/ZnFe₂O₄ nanocomposites were synthesized by a simple and inexpensive one‐step in situ polymerization method in the presence of ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles. The structural, morphological, and electrical properties of the samples were characterized by wide angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). WAXD and SEM revealed the formation of polyaniline/ZnFe₂O₄ nanocomposites. Infrared spectroscopy indicated that there was some interaction between the ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles and polyaniline. The dc electrical conductivity measurements were carried in the temperature range of 80 to 300 K. With increase in the doping concentration of ZnFe₂O₄, the conductivity of the nanocomposites found to be decreasing from 5.15 to 0.92 Scm⁻¹ and the temperature dependent resistivity follows ln ρ(T) ∼ T^−1/2 behavior. The nanocomposites (80 wt % of ZnFe₂O₄) show a more negative magnetoresistance compared with that of pure polyaniline (PANI). These results suggest that the interaction between the polymer matrix PANI and zinc nanoparticles take place in these nanocomposites. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Dielectric,thermal and mechanical properties of hybrid PMMA/RGO/Fe2O3 nanocomposites fabricated by in-situ polymerization

Currently, the organic-inorganic hybrid materials have gained tremendous importance due to their unique applications in different technological fields. In this connection, the chemical synthesis of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and its binary and ternary nanocomposites by in-situ bulk polymerization with various percentages of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and hematite nanoparticles (Fe₂O₃ NPs) is presented. Dielectric properties of binary and ternary nanocomposites are investigated in the frequency range of 25 Hz-1 MHz for each composition. Ternary nanocomposite of PMMA with RGO:Fe₂O₃ NPs (2:2 wt%) exhibits a substantial enhancement of the dielectric constant up to ≈308 and suppressed dielectric loss of 0.12 at 25 Hz. Appearance of three types of interfaces in ternary PMMA nanocomposites accounts for the superior dielectric properties due to the accumulation of greater number of charges at the interfaces as compared to the binary nanocomposites with only one interface. The same optimized ternary PMMA nanocomposite shows a remarkable improvement in the thermal conductivity (2.04 W/mK), which is attributed to the formation of efficient thermal conducting pathways contributed by the synergic reduction in thermal resistance of both RGO and Fe₂O₃ NPs (2:2 wt%) relative to the binary nanocomposites PMMA/2 wt% RGO (1.04 W/mK) and PMMA/2 wt% Fe₂O₃ (0.98 W/mK). Thus, ternary nanocomposites prove to be the excellent candidates for thermal management applications. Furthermore, a comparison of the mechanical strength and thermal stability for all the binary and ternary nanocomposites is presented. In the last section, respective precursors and optimized binary and ternary nanocomposites are characterized by XRD, FTIR and SEM which reveal the strong interaction of respective nanofillers into PMMA matrix.     

Dielectric,ferroelectric and magnetoelectric properties of in-situ synthesized CoFe2O4/BaTiO3 composite ceramics

Magnetoelectric composite materials have attracted more and more attention because of their coupling of ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism. It is a hotspot to realize the combination of ferromagnetic phase and ferroelectric phase. In this work, we used a new strategy to prepare CoFe₂O₄/BaTiO₃ composite ceramics: firstly, porous ferromagnetic CoFe₂O₄ phase was prepared by annealing of MOFs (metal organic frameworks) precursor Fe₃[Co(CN)₆]₂. And then, the ferroelectric BaTiO₃ phase in-situ grew in the pores of CoFe₂O₄ by a hydrothermal method. In the end, the CoFe₂O₄/BaTiO₃ composite ceramics sintered at different temperatures have been synthesized. The effects of sintering temperature on the structure, dielectric and ferroelectric properties have also been studied. Because the crystallinity and density increase with the increase of sintering temperature, the composite ceramic sintered at 1200 °C shows the best dielectric properties. It is found that sintering temperature has little effect on the ferroelectric and magnetic properties of ceramics. Taking the CoFe₂O₄/BaTiO₃ composite ceramic sintered at 1200 °C as an example, derived from the interaction between the ferromagnetic CoFe₂O₄ phase and ferroelectric BaTiO₃ phase, the applied magnetic field lead to the reduction of P_r and E_c.     

Dielectric properties with high dielectric permittivity and low loss tangent and nonlinear electrical response of sol-gel synthesized Na1/2Sm1/2Cu3Ti4O12 perovskite ceramic

Giant dielectric ceramic, Na_1/2Sm_1/2Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂, was successfully prepared by a modified sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction experiments indicated that a body-centered cubic structure with a space group of Im3 was obtained. Our density functional theory calculations revealed that codoping Na and Sm in the CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ structure resulted in charge compensation between Na and Sm ions in this structure, whereas the oxidation states of Cu and Ti were unaltered. Giant dielectric permittivity ～7.21 × 10³ - 8.04 × 10³ and low dielectric loss tangent ～0.045–0.049 were accomplished at a sintering temperature of 1050 °C for 12–18 h. Nonlinear J - E property with breakdown electric field ～5.13 – 5.78 × 10³ V/cm and nonlinear coefficient ～6.08–6.82 were also achieved. The n-type semiconducting grain originated from short-range migrations of mixed Cu⁺/Cu²⁺ and Ti³⁺/Ti⁴⁺ charges. Finally, our charge analysis showed that the occurrence of Cu⁺ and Ti³⁺ was related to the existence of oxygen vacancy in these ceramics.     

Improved dielectric properties and grain boundary response of SrTiO3 doped Y2/3Cu3Ti4O12 ceramics fabricated by Sol-gel process for high-energy-density storage applications

A chemical solution processing method based on sol-gel chemistry (SG) was used to synthesize (1-x)Y_2/3Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂-xSrTiO₃ (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25) ceramics successfully. The 0.85Y_2/3Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂-0.15SrTiO₃ ceramics sintered at 1050 °C for 20 h showed fine-grained microstructure and high dielectric constant (ε′ ≈ 1.7 × 10⁵) at 1 kHz. Furthermore, the 0.85Y_2/3Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂-0.15SrTiO₃ ceramics appeared distinct pseudo-relaxor behavior. Two electrical responses were observed in the combined modulus and impedance plots, indicating the presence of Maxwell-Wagner relaxation. Sr vacancies and additional oxygen vacancies had substantial contribution to the sintering behavior, an increase in grain growth, and relaxation behaviors in grain boundaries. The contributions of semiconducting grains with the nanodomain and insulating grain boundaries (corresponding to high-frequency and low-frequency electrical response, respectively) played important roles in the dielectric properties of (1-x)Y_2/3Cu₃Ti₄O₁₂-xSrTiO₃ ceramics. The occurrence of the polarization mechanism transition from the grain boundary response to the electrode one with temperature change was clearly evidenced in the low frequency range.     

Structural,dielectric and magnetic properties of (ZnFe2O4/Polystyrene) nanocomposites synthesized by micro-emuslion technique

This work aims to study the effect of polymer on the structure, magnetic and dielectric properties of spinel ferrite composite. Nanocomposites based on polystyrene (PST)/ZnFe₂O₄ were synthesized by using the micro-emulsion method. The novel composites with PST to ZnFe₂O₄ ratios (4:0, 4:1, 4:2, 4:3, 4:4, 0:4) were analyzed by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) which confirms the spinel structure of ZnFe₂O₄ with an average crystallite size of 15.3 nm for pure ZnFe₂O₄ and decreases by increasing the polystyrene concentration. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) gave the optimized results of surface morphology and the crystallite size which are in accordance with XRD data. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra show two main broad metal–oxygen bands corresponding to the intrinsic stretching vibrations of the metal at the tetrahedral site (observed between 837.9 and 1034.3 cm⁻¹) and traces of organic materials were observed at 1499.2 and 1766.4 cm⁻¹, which are associated with CO and CC stretching vibration respectively. O–H stretch of COOH weak acid of the carboxyl group was found at 2978.7 cm^-1. The composite with equal ZnFe₂O₄ to PST ratio (4:4) shows that real part of dielectric constant is independent of frequency at lower frequencies of an applied electric field. The resonance type behaviour was observed at higher frequency (2.5 GHz) which shows the material is excellent for dispersion of electric part of microwaves. The magnetization for pure ferrite (ZnFe₂O₄) at 15000 Oe was found to be 1.49 emu/g which decreases to 0.54 emu/g for the composite with the equal ferrite to polystyrene ratio. Based on their dielectric and magnetic characterization, these composites are considered suitable candidates to employ as microwave absorbing materials.     

Tailoring the structural,magnetic and dielectric properties of Ni-Zn-CdFe2O4 spinel ferrites by the substitution of lanthanum ions

In this paper, we have tailored the structural, magnetic and dielectric properties of Ni_0.5Zn_0.3Cd_0.2Fe_2-yLa_yO₄ (y?=?0.0–0.21) nano-structured spinel ferrites by the substitution of La³⁺ ions. The investigated samples were synthesized by Sol-gel auto-combustion method and were characterized using XRD, SEM, VSM, FTIR and dielectric measurements. Single phase nanostructure formation of synthesized material was confirmed by XRD analysis. The effect of La³⁺ ions on crystallite size, grain size, lattice constant and bulk densities was calculated and it was found that lattice constant first increased upto concentration y?=?0.105 then decreased with further substitution of dopant ions. FTIR results for all synthesized samples demonstrated two absorption bands at υ₁ =?540.8?cm^?1 and υ₂ =?490.8?cm^?1 corresponds to tetrahedral and octahedral sites of spinel structure respectively. With the increase in La³⁺ ions concentration, saturation magnetization and remanence both found to be decreased down to lowest M_s value of 34.1?emu/g which is not yet reported in the literature according to best of our knowledge. Dielectric results showed that by decreasing frequency, both dielectric loss and dielectric constant decreases. AC conductivity has two regions, at low frequency region ac conductivity increases while at high frequency region, it decreases with increasing frequency. The measured results for all synthesized nano-ferrites suggested that synthesized nanoferrites are recommended for high frequency and microwave absorbing applications.     

Relationship between distortion of crystal structure and dielectric properties of complex perovskite oxide Ba(Co,Zn)1/3Nb2/3O3 thin films

The oxygen octahedral can be distorted by epitaxial strain due to the lattice mismatch. The epitaxial strain (ε_yy) linearly decreases from ? 0.244% to ? 0.445% with the growth temperature. Thin films grow along c axis on the SrTiO₃ substrate and exhibit the epitaxial relationship of Ba(Co,Zn)_1/3Nb_2/3O₃ (001) // SrTiO₃ (001). The superlattice reflections arising from in-phase tilting of the oxygen octahedra are clearly visible along [010] and [111] zone axis. The IR modes at 330 cm^?1 and 390 cm^?1 related to in-phase tilting are observed in far-infrared reflectivity spectroscopy. The calculated Q×f values from far-infrared reflectivity spectra of films grown at 550 °C to 700 °C increases from 51,000 GHz to 91,000 GHz mainly due to the enhancement of crystalline quality. The intrinsic quality factor (Q) is mainly contributed by O-(Co, Nb)-O and O-(Zn, Nb)-O bonding modes, while in-phase tilting in BCZN films may result in enhanced dielectric constants.