One pot synthesis and electromagnetic interference shielding behavior of reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites decorated with Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles

•In-situ synthesis of NiCoFe2O4 nanoparticles along with reduced graphene oxide.•The synthesis process results in the formation of RGO layers decorated with ferrite nanoparticles.•The composite shows shielding effectiveness value of 36.3 dB (~ 99.98% attenuation) dominated by absorption.•Shielding properties depends upon the concentration of RGO and synergy between the RGO and ferrite nanoparticles. [Display omitted] With the rapid evolution of wireless communication technology, microwave absorbing materials having broad frequency bandwidth has been at center stage. Present article reports the direct facile method for synthesis of Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles decorated reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanocomposites (NG) by insitu genesis of Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles in graphene oxide heterogeneous mixture, preceded by hydrazine reduction and calcination. Because of magnetic Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 and dielectric reduced graphene oxide, the intercalated microstructure of NG nanocomposites shows increased shielding effectiveness due to absorption with major contribution from strong conduction loss, polarization effects, enhanced attenuation ability, eddy current losses and multiple scattering. Consequently, the shielding effectiveness of 36.3 dB (~99.98% attenuation of the electromagnetic wave) has been attained in 12.4–18 GHz for a corresponding thickness of 2 mm. The results indicates that the interface linkages and synergy among Ni0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 and RGO plays an important role in improvement of microwave absorbing properties and hence in designing of lightweight microwave absorbers.