Date:

2025-04-30

Title of Paper:

Ultra-broadband metamaterial absorber with graphene composites fabricated by 3D printing

Journal:

Material letters

Summary:

An ultra-broadband electromagnetic (EM) absorber composed of composite metamaterials was designed, fabricated and characterized. Polylactic-acid/reduced graphene oxide (PLA/RGO) composites with different amounts of RGO were prepared as a primary material collection. To provide good impedance matching and efficient wave attenuation, the multilayer absorbers were designed with a gradient index (GRIN) of characteristic impedance by manipulating the RGO content and the geometric parameters of the unit cell. To investigate the absorption performance, the absorbers with different numbers of layers were fabricated by a material extrusion 3D printing process, and then the reflection loss (RL) of the prepared samples was measured. The results showed that the methodology for designing a metamaterial absorber with gradient impedance and fabrication through a 3D printing process was effective in producing ultra-broadband absorbers. The seven-layer absorber with a thickness of 5.6 mm achieved an absorption above 90% in a broad bandwidth of 4.5–40 GHz. The remarkable absorption performance was due to the multi-functional integration of the composite materials and the metamaterial structure for impedance matching and microwave attenuation. This work could provide inspiration for upgrading the performance of some conventional absorbing composites through a rational design of the composite proportion and structure.

Co-author:

Lixian Yin, Xiaoyong Tian*, Zhentao Shang, Dichen Li

Translation or Not:

No

Date of Publication:

2018-12-17