Role of Zn cations substitution on structural, vibrational, elastic, dielectric, bandwidth, and microwave absorbance of Co–Cd ferrites at high frequencies

Abstract

The rapid growth of electronic technology and communications has sparked significant interest in high-performance microwave-absorbing materials. Ferrites are the most common microwave-absorbing material used to reduce the effects of EM pollution. In this study, spinel ferrite nanoparticles of Cd0.5-xZnxCo0.5Fe2O4 (0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) were produced as effective microwave absorbers utilizing the sol-gel auto ignition method. The manufactured nanomaterials have a mono-phase cubic spinel structure validated by the Rietveld refinement of XRD data. The tetrahedral and octahedral sites were designated by the two absorption bands in the infrared spectroscopy. When the concentration of Zn was raised, the two absorption bands moved to a higher wavenumber. The computed elastic parameters verified the stability and brittle nature of the produced nanoparticles. It was verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) that all metal ions were present with their respective electronic states. The charge carriers' conduction process in synthesized ferrite samples is explained by Jonscher's power law. Impedance analysis was used to study the effects of relaxation time and grain boundaries on the electrical features of the produced nanomaterials. Impedance Cole-Cole plots prove that all samples exhibit non-Debye-type multiple relaxation processes. The saturation magnetization rises from 58.92 to 106.41 emu/g and the coercivity falls from 246.47 to 192.10 Oe when Zn2+ is substituted into Cd–Co ferrites. It was observed that among all the synthesized samples, Cd0.2Zn0.3Co0.5Fe2O4 has a minimum reflection loss of −26.85 dB at 3.90 GHz. The minimum reflection loss (RL), high saturation magnetization, and dielectric losses demonstrate their efficiency as electromagnetic (EM) wave absorbers for high-frequency application in the prepared spinel ferrites.