ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Probing the effects of Al dopant over the structure and charge-related optical, magnetic, and electrical properties of Al³⁺-doped LaFeO₃ bulk multiferroic materials

G. Gowri, R. Saravanan, N. Srinivasan, K. Karunya, P. Jeyasheela, and M. Uthra

Research Centre and Post Graduate Department of Physics, The Madura College, Madurai, India

E-mail: gowrikanna01@gmail.com

Received: 25 December 2020  Accepted: 21 April 2021

Abstract:

Aluminum-substituted LaFeO₃ (La_1−xAl_xFeO₃) (x = 0.05, 0.15, and 0.25) bulk multiferroics were synthesized by standard high temperature (1300 °C) solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction results confirmed that the prepared La_1−xAl_xFeO₃ crystallizes in the orthorhombic phase. The 3D charge density distributions and arrangement of charges on 2D crystallographic planes and 1D charge density profiles between nearest neighboring atoms in the unit cell of La_1−xAl_xFeO₃ have examined using the maximum entropy method. Deagglomerated particles having different shapes with irregular boundaries and size in the micrometer range has observed through scanning electron microscopy micrographs. The increase in the substitution of Al in LaFeO₃ enhances the magnetic and electrical properties of the host system. Magnetic measurements revealed that Al substitution in LaFeO₃ leads to ferromagnetic ordering with the enhanced coercive field, between 1044 G (x = 0.05) and 3031 G (x = 0.25). The dielectric constant of the synthesized samples lies in the range of 213 to 771. ferroelectric measurements demonstrate elliptical P–E loops with high remanent polarization (P_r) for all the samples. The optical measurements show that the Al substitution in LaFeO₃ leads to the decrease in the energy band gap (E_g). The structural and charge-related magnetoelectric properties have been investigated through charge density values and spin.

Keywords: Al-LaFeO3; XRD; Charge density; Ferromagnetism; Dielectric constant; Spin

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-021-01672-1

Chemical Papers 75 (8) 4337–4353 (2021)