Nugrahani Primary Putri, Laili Arin Ramadhani, Fitriana, Diah Hari Kusumawati, Munasir, Yana Taryana, Ahmed Shaban
This research has proven that Radar Absorbing Material (RAM) can be synthesized from natural materials by utilizing iron sand (Fe3O4) from volcanoes and coconut shell charcoal as sources of reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The PANI/rGO/Fe3O4 with Fe3O4 variation 0.5 g (PrGF1); 0.6 g (PrGF2); 0.7 g (PrGF3) were synthesized through a combination of coprecipitation, hummer modification, and in-situ polymerization methods. Characterization was carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS), electro impedance spectroscopy (EIS), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and vector network analyzer (VNA) to determine the crystal structure, morphology, electrical properties, magnetic properties, and microwave absorption capabilities in the X-band frequency range (8–12 GHz) respectively. The test results showed that increasing the Fe3O4 content strengthened the magnetic properties and supported impedance matching through a balance between dielectric and magnetic losses. The best sample, PrGF3, showed a maximum reflection loss value of − 42.41 dB at a frequency of 10.1 GHz, with a reflection coefficient of 0.0075, meaning 99.25% of electromagnetic waves were successfully absorbed. This study confirms that the use of natural materials such as iron sand and coconut shell charcoal can produce RAM that is lightweight, environmentally friendly, and has competitive absorption performance for electromagnetic (EM) wave absorber applications. In addition, this study found that thin samples also have good absorbance values, and all composites have balanced dielectric and magnetic losses. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025.
Department of Physics, Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia; Research Center for Telecommunication, National Research and Innovation Agency, Bandung, Indonesia; Department of Electrical Engineering, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
