Fabrication of porous flaky electromagnetic particles by electroless plating of CoNiP on diatomite

► The lightweight porous flaky electromagnetic particles were fabricated with deposition of CoNiP coating onto the diatomite templates. ► A coupling processing was applied to improve the effect of activation and electroless plating of diatomite. ► The CoNiP coating on the diatomite was a transitional structure between crystal and amorphousness. ► The fabricated micro flaky electromagnetic particles had promising electromagnetic properties.