Rare earth Ce-doped W-type barium ferrites for tunable electromagnetic waves absorption performance

W-type ferrites possessing low cost and high chemical stability, show high potential in electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption field. However, due to the low dielectric loss, developing high EMW absorption performance of W-type ferrites remains desired. Here, rare earth (RE) cerium (Ce)-doped W-type barium ferrites (Ba1-yCeyNi2Fe15.4O27, y=0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6) are prepared by a sol-gel approach. The influences of Ce doping are detailed analyzed. Ce ions with unpaired 4f electrons and strong spin-orbit coupling of angular momentum enhance the dielectric and magnetic properties of ferrites. Ba0.7Ce0.3Ni2Fe15.4O27 achieves the minimum reflection loss (RLmin) value of -52 dB while Ba0.6Ce0.4Ni2Fe15.4O27 showcases the widest effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 1.36 GHz associated with the RLmin reaching -38 dB, significantly outperforming the undoped ferrites. This work thus demonstrates a high-efficiency utilization of Ce for enhancing the EMW absorption performance of widely employed W-type barium ferrites, efficiently advancing the application field of RE elements.