Martha Rianna, Linda Ewi Diana, Liderson Sinaga, Yeni P.S. Naibaho, Muhammad Khalid Hussain, Achmad Walid, Nanang Sudrajat, Timbangen Sembiring
This study investigates the synthesis and electromagnetic performance of NiO/BaFe₁₂O₁₉ composites with NiO contents of 10, 15, and 20 wt% prepared by a solid-state reaction method for X-band microwave absorption applications. Structural, morphological, magnetic, dielectric, and microwave absorption properties were evaluated using XRD, SEM-EDX, magnetic hysteresis analysis, complex permittivity–permeability measurements, and VNA characterization. XRD results confirmed that the main BaFe₁₂O₁₉ crystal structure was maintained after NiO addition, although slight shifts in 2θ, hkl spacing, lattice parameters, crystallite size, and unit-cell volume were observed. SEM-EDX analysis revealed relatively good elemental homogeneity for the 10 and 15 wt% NiO samples, while the 20 wt% sample showed less uniform distribution. Magnetic measurements indicated that the 20 wt% NiO sample exhibited optimum magnetic properties, with coercivity of 245.3 kA/m, saturation induction of 0.072 T, and remanent induction of 0.039 T. Complex permeability values remained close to unity, while complex permittivity decreased with increasing NiO content, indicating improved impedance matching. VNA results showed that microwave absorption increased with NiO addition, with the best reflection loss of −11.739 dB at 8.18 GHz, corresponding to 93.29% absorption. These findings demonstrate that 20 wt% NiO is the optimum composition for enhancing the X-band absorption performance of NiO/BaFe₁₂O₁₉ composites. © 2026 Elsevier Ltd. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
Department of Physics, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, 20155, Indonesia; RMIT University, STEM College, School of Engineering, Melbourne, Pakistan; Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, ACT, Canberra, 2601, Australia; National Research and Innovation Agency Republic of Indonesia, Research Center for Electronics, West Java, Bandung, 40135, Indonesia; Department of Mechanical Engineering, State Polytechnic of Malang, Malang, 65141, Indonesia