Abstract Spinel-hexagonal nanocomposites have attracted a lot of interest for high-performance microwave absorbers due to their ability to simultaneously modify the dielectric and magnetic loss processes. The soft ferrite Ni 0.55 Cu 0.2 Zn 0.25 Fe 2 O 4 (NCZFO) and the hard M-type hexaferrite BaFe 12 O 19 (BFO) were effectively synthesized using a sol–gel auto-combustion process. Physical mixing was used to create a composite of (1–x) NCZFO + (x) BFO ( x = 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00). The structural analysis confirms the coexistence of cubic spinel and hexagonal magnetoplumbite phases. Magnetic measurement reveals a change from soft to hard magnetic behavior as the hexaferrite fraction rises, as well as enhanced coercivity and changed phase exchange interactions. Electron spin resonance investigations provide additional evidence for strong interfacial magnetic coupling and anisotropy evolution in the composite system. In the X-band frequency range (8–12 GHz), the composite structures show a significant improvement in microwave absorption performance when compared to the individual phases. The ideal composition x = 0.75 exhibits a reflection loss of roughly − 42 dB at ~ 10.4 GHz with an absorber thickness of 3 mm, which corresponds to more than 90% attenuation of incident electromagnetic radiation. These results demonstrate that NCZFO/BFO soft-hard ferrite nanocomposites are practical choices for lightweight, efficient microwave absorbers that function in the X-band region.
Fartade et al. (Fri,) studied this question.