Radar Absorber Composite Graphene Oxide/Magnetite/Zinc Oxide in Polypyrole Matrix

Allodya Nadra Xaviera; Vania Agatha Nareswari; Dea Dwi Ananda; Hazzha Azzahra; Thessa Ocatvia Joyetta Tarigan; Tiara Rizki Yulita; Nugroho Adi Sasongko; Rahmat Basuki

Authors

Allodya Nadra Xaviera Department of Chemistry, The Republic of Indonesia Defense University, Kawasan IPSC Sentul, Bogor 16810, Indonesia
Vania Agatha Nareswari Department of Chemistry, The Republic of Indonesia Defense University, Kawasan IPSC Sentul, Bogor 16810, Indonesia
Dea Dwi Ananda Department of Chemistry, The Republic of Indonesia Defense University, Kawasan IPSC Sentul, Bogor 16810, Indonesia
Hazzha Azzahra Department of Chemistry, The Republic of Indonesia Defense University, Kawasan IPSC Sentul, Bogor 16810, Indonesia
Thessa Ocatvia Joyetta Tarigan Department of Chemistry, The Republic of Indonesia Defense University, Kawasan IPSC Sentul, Bogor 16810, Indonesia
Tiara Rizki Yulita Department of Chemistry, The Republic of Indonesia Defense University, Kawasan IPSC Sentul, Bogor 16810, Indonesia
Nugroho Adi Sasongko Research Center For Sustainable Production System and Life Cycle Assessment, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), KST Prof. BJ Habibie, Building 720 Puspiptek Area, South Tangerang, Banten 15314, Indonesia; Energy Security Graduate Program, The Republic of Indonesia Defense University, Kawasan IPSC Sentul, Bogor 16810, Indonesia; Murdoch University, 90 South St, Murdoch Western Australia 6150, Australia
Rahmat Basuki Department of Chemistry, The Republic of Indonesia Defense University, Kawasan IPSC Sentul, Bogor 16810, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3117-2740

Keywords:

Carbon composite, Fe₃O₄/ZnO, Polypirrol, Radar absorbing material, Stealth technology

Abstract

The development of stealth technology in modern defense systems demands superior radar absorbing material (RAM) innovation. This study aims to synthesize and characterize Fe₃O₄/ZnO modified carbon-based RAM composites in a polypyrrole (PPy) matrix using graphite oxide (GiO). The composites were synthesized via a modified Hummer method as well as a one-pot technique, and characterized using FTIR, XRD, SEM-EDX, and VNA. The FTIR characterization results showed that the C=C peak decreased in intensity after the oxidation process, indicating the breaking of the aromatic double bond and the formation of new functional groups such as C–O and C=O. This change was detected in both pGiO and kGiO samples. XRD data showed a shift in the main peaks to 2θ = 11.25° and 42.20° for pGiO and 2θ = 11.56° and 42.40° for GiO-k, respectively. This shift indicates the formation of a more amorphous graphite oxide structure compared to the original graphite.The results show that GiO/Fe₃O₄/ZnO has the highest reflection loss value of -9.20 dB at 10.91 GHz (GiO-p/Fe₃O₄/ZnO 66%-PPy) with an absorption value of 88.03% and rGO/Fe₃O₄/ZnO/PPy the highest RL value reached -7.51 dB at 11.57 GHz (rGO-k/Fe₃O₄/ZnO 66%-PPy) with an absorption value of 82.21%. This research proves that Fe₃O₄/ZnO modified carbon-based composites in a polypyrrole matrix have high potential as an efficient radar absorbing material and can support the needs of domestic defense technology.