PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze an unsteady MHD Darcy flow of nonNewtonian hybrid nanoliquid past an exponentially accelerated vertical plate under the influence of velocity slip, Hall and ion slip effects in a rotating frame of reference. The fluids in the flow domain are assumed to be viscously incompressible electrically conducting. Sodium alginate (SA) has been taken as a base Casson liquid. A strong uniform magnetic field is applied under the assumption of low magnetic Reynolds number. Effect of Hall and ion-slip currents on the flow field is examined. The ramped heating and time-varying concentration at the plate are taken into consideration. First-order homogeneous chemical reaction and heat absorption are also considered. Copper and alumina nanoparticles are dispersed in base fluid sodium alginate to be formed as hybrid nanoliquid.Design/methodology/approachThe model problem is first formulated in terms of partial differential equations (PDEs) with physical conditions. Laplace transform method (LTM) is used on the nondimensional governing equations for their closed-form solution. Based on these results, expressions for nondimensional shear stresses, rate of heat and mass transfer are also determined. Graphical presentations are chalked out to inspect the impacts of physical parameters on the pertinent physical flow characteristics. Numerical values of the shear stresses, rate of heat and mass transfer at the plate are tabulated for various physical parameters.FindingsNumerical exploration reveals that a significant increase in the secondary flow (i.e. crossflow) near the plate is guaranteed with an augmenting in Hall parameter or ion slip parameter. MHD and porosity have an opposite effect on velocity component profiles for both types of nanoliquids. Result addresses that both shear stresses are strongly enhanced by the Casson effect. Also, hybrid nanosuspension in Casson fluid (sodium alginate) exhibits a lower rate of heat transfer than usual nanoliquid.Social implicationsThis model may be pertinent in cooling processes of metallic infinite plate in bath and hybrid magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generators, metallurgical process, manufacturing dynamics of nanopolymers, magnetic field control of material processing, synthesis of smart polymers, making of paper and polyethylene, casting of metals, etc.Originality/valueThe originality of this study is to obtain an analytical solution of the modeled problem by using the Laplace transform method (LTM). Such an exact solution of nonNewtonian fluid flow, heat and mass transfer is rare in the literature. It is also worth remarking that the influence of Hall and ion slip effects on the flow of nonNewtonian hybrid nanoliquid is still an open question.