Synthesis of NiCe x Fe(2- x )O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05) as Microwave Absorbing Materials via Solid-State Reaction Method

In this work, a profound study has been carried out on the microwave absorbing materials in NiCe_xFe_(2-x)O₄ (x = 0.0, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05) spinel ferrites. The series of NiCe_xFe_(2-x)O₄ composition were synthesized by solid state reaction method. The Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction (XRD) profiles showed that all compositions were crystallized into a single-phase of nickel ferrite (NiFe₂O₄, space group Fd-3 m). The lattice constant was found to decrease from 8.3346 Å to 8.3310 Å with the increasing substitution of Ce³⁺ from x= 0.0 to 0.05. The surface morphological observation by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) revealed that the particle size decreased with the increasing of Ce³⁺ ions substitution. The magnetic properties parameters such as saturation magnetization (M_s), remanence magnetization (M_r), and coercivity (H_c) were obtained from magnetic-hysteresis (M−H) curves. The M_s were decreased (from 49.7 to 26.8 emu/g) whereas the ${\mu }_0$H_c was increased (from 154 to 188 Oe) with increasing substitution of Ce³⁺ in the NiCe_xFe_(2-x)O₄ series. The microwave absorption performance obtained from the Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) measurement showed that the increasing substitution of Ce³⁺ will enhance the microwave attenuation from 91.25% to 98.59%. It is expected that the composition of x= 0.05 (NiCe_0.05Fe_1.95O₄) can be used as a reference to design new microwave absorbing materials.