Electromagnetic Properties of Carbon Gels

The electromagnetic properties of various carbon gels, produced with different bulk densities, were investigated in a wide frequency range (20 Hz–36 GHz). The values of dielectric permittivity and electrical conductivity at 129 Hz were found to be very high, i.e., more than 10(5) and close to 100 S/m, respectively. Both strongly decreased with frequency but remained high in the microwave frequency range (close to 10 and about 0.1 S/m, respectively, at 30 GHz). Moreover, the dielectric permittivity and the electrical conductivity strongly increased with the bulk density of the materials, according to power laws at low frequency. However, the maximum of microwave absorption was observed at lower densities. The DC conductivity slightly decreased on cooling, according to the Arrhenius law. The lower activation energies are typical of carbon gels presenting lower DC electrical conductivities, due to a higher number of defects. High and thermally stable electromagnetic properties of carbon gels, together with other unique properties of these materials, such as lightness and chemical inertness, open possibilities for producing new electromagnetic coatings.