Unusual continuous dual absorption peaks in Ca-doped BiFeO3 nanostructures for broadened microwave absorption

Abstract

Electromagnetic absorption materials have received increasing attention owing to their wide applications in aerospace, communication and the electronics industry, and multiferroic materials with both polarization and magnetic properties are considered promising ceramics for microwave absorption application. However, the insufficient absorption intensity coupled with the narrow effective absorption bandwidth has limited the development of high-performance multiferroic materials for practical microwave absorption. To address such issues, in the present work, we utilize interfacial engineering in BiFeO₃ nanoparticles via Ca doping, with the purpose of tailoring the phase boundary. Upon Ca-substitution, the co-existence of both R3c and P4mm phases has been confirmed to massively enhance both dielectric and magnetic properties via manipulating the phase boundary and the destruction of the spiral spin structure. Unlike the commonly reported magnetic/dielectric hybrid microwave absorption composites, Bi_0.95Ca_0.05FeO₃ has been found to deliver unusual continuous dual absorption peaks at a small thickness (1.56 mm), which has remarkably broadened the effective absorption bandwidth (8.7–12.1 GHz). The fundamental mechanisms based on the phase boundary engineering have been discussed, suggesting a novel platform for designing advanced multiferroic materials with wide applications.