Absorption modulation of FSS-polymer nanocomposites through incorporation of conductive nanofillers

The hybrid concept of utilizing frequency selective surface (FSS) and polymer nanocomposite (PNC) for absorption modulation is presented in 8–18 GHz frequency band. The extruded PNCs are fabricated by incorporating different weight% fraction of conductive fillers, namely carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), in high, low and mixed nano-filler concentration in a polycarbonate matrix. The FSS metallic resonator is patterned over a dielectric substrate which lies on grounded PNCs. It was found that absorption depends on wt% fraction of conductive inclusions in polycarbonate matrix, i.e., variation in conductivity of grounded PNCs due to varying concentration of conductive fillers results in modulation of absorption. Peaks of nearly 100% magnitude of absorption and modulated absorption band are observed at 8.2 GHz, and between 12 and 18 GHz frequency bands, respectively, by varying conductivity of polymer composite. We demonstrate here that the bandwidth and magnitude of absorption can be fixed by the combination of SSRs (for limits of the band) and concentrations in nanofillers (for intensity of absorption).