Fast and efficient synthesis of a new adjustable perovskite-structured ferrite La1−xCaxFeO3 microwave absorbent.

• La 1– x Ca x FeO 3 microwave absorbing ferrite material was quickly synthesized by a simple sol-gel method. • The amount of Ca doping was crucial in determining the magnetic properties and electromagnetic parameters of LaFeO 3. • Conduction loss is the primary reason for microwave absorption. • The effective absorbing bandwidth of La 0.85 Ca 0.15 FeO 3 reaches 4.56 GHz and covering almost the entire Ku-band. Rare-earth orthoferrites (RFeO 3) is emerging as a type of microwave absorbing material (MAM) with development potential because of its excellent structural stability and moderate permittivity and amount of potential energy present. In this study, we employed a simple sol–gel technology to quickly synthesize La 1− x Ca x FeO 3 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2) ferrite MAMs. The FullProf X-ray diffraction refinement demonstrated that all samples formed single-phase LaFeO 3 (space group: Pnma). The amount of Ca doping was crucial in determining the particle size, magnetic properties, and electromagnetic parameters of LaFeO 3. As a dielectric loss type in MAM, conduction loss is the primary reason and interfacial as well as dipolar polarizations are the secondary reasons for the attenuation of the electromagnetic energy of the samples. The study discovered that an appropriate amount of Ca2+ doping improves LaFeO 3 microwave absorption. Therefore, the ideal microwave absorption is achieved in the La 1− x Ca x FeO 3 samples when Ca content x = 0.1 and 0.15, where the minimum reflection loss (RL min) of La 0.9 Ca 0.1 FeO 3 is − 39.90 dB at 6.72 GHz and the corresponding matching thickness is 4.0 mm. Although the RL min of La 0.85 Ca 0.15 FeO 3 is − 24.37 dB at 13.44 GHz, the effective absorption bandwidth is 4.56 GHz and the corresponding matching thickness is only 2.0 mm, which almost covers the entire Ku-band. This La 1− x Ca x FeO 3 is expected to be an industrially produced high-performance MAM owing to its excellent microwave absorption performance as well as its simple and rapid synthesis method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]