Synthesis and micro-structural characterization of graphene/strontium hexaferrite (Sr Fe12O19) nanocomposites

In this study, novel type carbon/ferrite nanocomposites were successfully prepared by decoration of graphene sheets with the magnetic strontium hexaferrite nanoparticles synthesized via the citrate sol gel combustion method as microwave absorbing material. The microstructural features and physical properties of nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), XRay diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) methods. Magnetic properties of the nanocomposites were determined by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). It was found that the surface of the graphene nanosheets were successfully decorated with the strontium hexaferrite nanoparticles and the resulting layered nanocomposite structures exhibited sufficiently high magnetic saturation values compared to the agglomerated structure of strontium hexaferrite nanoparticles although the nanocomposites include less active magnetic component than the bulk hexaferrite. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.