Electromagnetic interference shielding performance of lightweight NiFe₂O₄/rGO nanocomposite in X- band frequency range

Herein, we reported the electromagnetic interference performance of NiFe₂O₄/rGO nanocomposite. In this study NiFe₂O₄ nanoparticles was synthesized by co-precipitation route and the magnetic nanoparticles were incorporated on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) using a solvothermal method. The detailed properties of synthesized materials were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), tunneling electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) system, and vector network analyzer (VNA). The electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding property of composite materials was investigated in the 8.2–12.4 GHz (X-band) frequency region. The results depicted the significant dielectric and magnetic loss in the nanocomposite as compared to rGO. Consequently, composite has improved impedance matching characteristics, which required for high electromagnetic wave absorption. Moreover, the study showed that shielding effectiveness further improves with increasing nanoparticles concentration in nanocomposite, which is due to increased interconnected network between NiFe₂O₄ and rGO. Furthermore, total shielding effectiveness (SE_T) of (35/65) NiFe₂O₄/rGO nanocomposite of thickness 2 mm is 38.2 dB at 10.8 GHz, which is higher than the accompanying investigated sample. It could be inferred that the redeeming properties of high dielectric and magnetic loss, enhanced absorption and multiple reflections of (35/65) NiFe₂O₄/rGO nanocomposite resulted in high shielding effectiveness. Therefore, this result mean that NiFe₂O₄/rGO nanocomposite is a promising shielding material for application in microwave absorption appliances.