Synthesis and characterization of copper-based spinel ferrites for high frequency applications

•The sol–gel technique was successfully used to prepare spinel ferrites.•At room temperature, the resistivity increased proportionately.•The trend of dc resistivity, as well as activation energy, was the same at room temperature.•The addition of barium ion reduced the magnetization. Spinel ferrites have remained popular over the years due to their exceptional electrical and magnetic properties. The sol–gel method was used to synthesize the Cu1-xBaxFe2O4 (x = 0.00, 0.20, 0.40, 0.60, 0.80, 1.0). The cubic spinel phase was visible in all samples using X-ray diffraction. The addition of barium ions increased lattice constant values from 8.38 Å to 8.50 Å while lowering porosity and density. By including barium ions in the reaction mixture, resulted an increase in the activation energy and DC resistivity. The increase in temperature from 300 to 650 K is given to all prepared samples, and then they behaved like semiconductor because their resistivity decreased with the increase in temperature. When barium ions were introduced, magnetization decreased, and coercivity increased. All these properties suggested that these samples might be suitable for high-frequency applications.