Influence of Ni-Zr on Microwave Absorption Properties of Zn-Co Spinel Ferrites in X-Band

The objective of this study is to develop microwave-absorbing materials to mitigate the levels of electromagnetic radiations emitted by wireless technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT). The influence of divalent Ni<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2+</sup> ions and tetravalent Zr<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4+</sup> ions on the electromagnetic and microwave absorption characteristics of Zn-Co spinel ferrites is investigated in the present manuscript. The synthesis of samples of Ni-Zr co-substituted Zn-Co spinel ferrites with compositional formula Zn<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.25</inf>Co<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.75</inf>(NiZr)<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</inf>Fe<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2-2x</inf>O<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</inf> (0.05 ≤ x ≤ 0.25, Δx = 0.05) are accomplished through the sol-gel citrate route. Complex electromagnetic parameters and reflection loss are computed in the X-band (8.2–12.4 GHz) by using a vector network analyzer. The obtained results revealed that the composition x = 0.25 yields RL ≤ -10 dB which corresponds to 90 % absorption power at a fixed sample thickness of 4 mm. The research outcomes highlight the potential of the prepared compositions of the ferrite series for microwave-absorbing applications in next-generation devices.