Synthesis and microwave absorbing properties of quasione-dimensional mesoporous NiCo2O4 nanostructure

•A quasione-dimensional mesoporous NiCo2O4 nanostructure was synthesized.•The NiCo2O4 was used as microwave absorber for the first time.•The NiCo2O4/paraffin composite shows excellent microwave absorbing property.•The microwave absorbing mechanism was discussed. Quasione-dimensional NiCo2O4 nanostructure was synthesized by a precipitation-thermal decomposition process. The diameters and special ratios of the NiCo2O4 fibers are 0.2–0.5μm and 20–50, respectively. The mesoporous structure with a surface area of 54.47m2g−1 and average pore-size of 12.5nm for the NiCo2O4 was obtained. The relative complex permittivity and permeability of paraffin/50wt.% NiCo2O4 composite were measured in the frequency range of 2–18GHz, and the microwave absorbing property of the composite was evaluated. An excellent reflection loss (RL) of −35.76dB at 14.86GHz with a composite thickness of 1.50mm and effective bandwidth (RL