Characteristics of Mixed Polyvinyl Alcohol and Chitosan Obtained from Shrimp Shells and Squid Pens for Electromagnetic Wave Absorber

One of the potential materials developed for electromagnetic interference shielding and or anti radio detecting and ranging (radar) purposes is chitosan, however, its capability to absorb the electromagnetic waves needs to be characterized. This work aims at studying the characteristics of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA mixed with)-chitosan obtained from shrimp shells and β-chitosan obtained from squid pens for electromagnetic wave absorber. Samples were prepared with weight ratio variation of chitosan from each source at 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 wt.% and homogenously mixed with 8 wt.% of PVA. The solution mixture was casted into a petri dish through solution casting methods. The samples were characterized by using thickness measurer for the thickness, scanning electron microscope (SEM) for microstructure and surface morphology, X-ray powder diffractometer (XRD) for phase identification, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) for functional groups, and network analyser to measure the reflection loss characteristics. The electromagnetic wave absorption characteristics show that αchitosan has an absorption intensity with minimum value of -14.92 dB at 2.0 wt.% α-chitosan and maximum value of -31.03 dB at 0.5 wt.% α-chitosan. Similarly, β-chitosan showed an absorption intensity with minimum value of -15.48 dB at 2.0 wt.% β-chitosan and maximum value of -31.94 dB at 0.5 wt.% βchitosan. These trends show that the materials have a potential to be further developed for anti-radar capability.