Enhanced microwave absorption properties of Ni0.48Cu0.12Zn0.4Fe2O4 + polyaniline nanocomposites

Nanocomposites of (1-x) Ni0.48Cu0.12Zn0.4Fe2O4 (NCZ) + x Polyaniline (PANI), (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 1) with varying composition were successfully prepared from nanopowders of Ni0.48Cu0.12Zn0.4Fe2O4 synthesized by microwave hydrothermal method. The samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The characterization studies revealed the confirmation of spinel and polymer phases in the composite samples. The dielectric, magnetic and electromagnetic properties were studied over frequency range of 8.2-12.4 GHz (X-band) and 12.4-18 GHz (Kuband). It was found that the addition of PANI filler in ferrite matrix enhances the microwave absorbing properties with the increment of dielectric and magnetic losses. The nanocomposite sample with 50 wt% PANI was found to exhibit minimum reflection loss of -42.10 dB near 9.35 GHz with the effective bandwidth of 3.8 GHz and -39.34 dB near 14.05 GHz with effective bandwidth of 2.8 GHz. The current results indicate that the present materials can be selected to design microwave absorbing filters both in X-band and Ku-band frequency regions for electromagnetic interference applications.