Objective To prepare high-performance double-absorbing coating NiFe_{1 . 98}Nd_{0 . 02}O₄ -Fe. Methods Nd substituted nickel ferrites ( NiFe_{1 . 98}Nd_{0 . 02}O₄ ) were prepared using the sol-gel-autocombustion method. The microstructures, morphology and the electromagnetic properties of NiFe_{1 . 98}Nd_{0 . 02}O₄ and carbonyl iron were characterized with X-ray diffraction ( XRD) , scanning electron microscopy ( SEM) and a vector network analyzer. The thickness of double-layers microwave absorption coating was optimized by the genetic algorithm ( GA) . Results Using carbonyl iron and NiFe_{1 . 98}Nd_{0 . 02}O₄ as absorbents, double composite absorbing coating with thickness d = 1 mm was prepared. The results showed that the reflection loss of coating was less than-10 dB over the range from 9. 25 GHz to 11. 35 GHz. Conclusion The results of measurements showed that the microwave absorption property of NiFe_{1 . 98}Nd_{0 . 02}O₄ and carbonyl iron were complementary to each other. The calculated RL agreed closely with the experimental results in the whole measured frequency range.