Facile synthesis and microwave absorbing properties of LiFeO2/ZnFe2O4 composite

A ferrite composite material composed of ZnFe2O4 and LiFeO2 has been successfully prepared by a facile sol-gel process. The crystal phase composition and micro-morphology of the as-prepared LiFeO2/ZnFe2O4 composite was analyzed by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The electromagnetic and microwave absorbing properties of the as-prepared composite were investigated by means of the transmit-line theory. It is found that the as-prepared composite has a minimum reflection loss value of - 10.4 dB at 17.7 GHz with a matching thickness of 16.7 mm. In addition, the electromagnetic characteristics of the as-prepared composite showed that the reflection curve presents several strong absorption peaks in the range of 2-18 GHz, compared with the reflection curve of single component ZnFe2O4 that reported elsewhere. It also proposed a method to prepare the multiphase materials by the facile sol-gel process, which is an effective way in adjusting electromagnetic parameters of as-prepared materials.