Monodisperse MnO nanoparticles in situ grown on reduced graphene oxide via hydrophobic interaction for excellent electromagnetic wave absorption

It is significant to fabricate the oxide nanoparticle/graphene composite for improving the electromagnetic wave absorption properties. In this work, the monodisperse manganese oxide (MnO) nanoparticle/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite was obtained via the hydrophobic interaction in the colloidal solution. The monodisperse MnO nanoparticle is about 55 nm with a uniform distribution due to the modification of oleylamine. When it was used for the electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption, an excellent EM wave absorption in the 2–18 GHz band was displayed. Its effective EM absorption bandwidth can be up to 4.2 GHz at 1.5 mm thickness, and the minimum reflection loss can be up to − 44.67 dB at 2 mm thickness. This is because the monodisperse MnO nanoparticles with the uniform distribution could provide more interfacial polarization active sites, which enhanced the interfacial polarization effect. This uniform hybrid is expected to be a potential candidate for the outstanding EM wave absorption performance. Graphical Abstract