Enhanced microwave absorption properties of Nd-doped NiZn ferrite/polyaniline nanocomposites

In the present work, novel Ni0.5Zn0.5Nd0.04Fe1.96O4 ferrite (NZNF)/polyaniline (PANI) nanocomposites were prepared by interfacial polymerization. The crystal structure, microstructure and electromagnetic parameters of the samples were investigated in detail, indicating that PANI grew uniformly on the surface of ferrite like coral. By testing the electromagnetic parameters, it was found that PANI significantly improved the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant of the samples, thus affecting the impedance matching and attenuation performance. The addition of PANI adversely affected the impedance matching, but had a good effect on attenuation capacity. When the amount of aniline was 25 wt% of the ferrite, the impedance matching and attenuation capacity of the as-prepared NZNF/PANI nanocomposite reached the optimal balance. The NZNF/PANI-25 nanocomposite exhibited a maximum reflection loss of -37.4 dB at 8.4 GHz, and the effective absorption bandwidth was 4.9 GHz at a thickness of 4.0 mm. This novel absorbing material is a promising absorbent with strong and wide band absorption characteristics.