Microwave absorbing properties of hollow microspheres plated with magnetic metal films

Abstract

Conductive and magnetic microspheres are fabricated through the electroless plating of Co, Co-10%Fe, Ni, and Ni-15%Fe films on hollow microspheres (cenospheres), and their high frequency electromagnetic and microwave absorbing properties are investigated in the composite specimens. The electroless plating of the metal films is conducted using a two-step process of surface sensitizing and metal plating. For the microspheres coated with the Co and Co-10%Fe films, impedance matching is not satisfied at all frequencies due to the small values of magnetic loss and dielectric constant. For the Ni-plated microsphere composites, the dielectric constant is too high to satisfy the impedance matching, which results in a small value of microwave absorbance. For the Ni-15%Fe thin film composite with appropriate magnetic permeability and dielectric permittivity, the impedance matching is satisfied in the GHz frequency and a lower value of reflection loss is predicted.