3% Fe₂O₃: Cr₂O₃- an excellent magneto-opto-electrically active nanomaterial

Abstract

In this paper, pure and Fe₂O₃ (1–5 mol %) doped Cr₂O₃has been synthesized using a solid-state synthesis method. X-ray diffraction pattern of pure and Fe₂O₃: Cr₂O₃ has a similar crystallographic hexagonal phase with space group R-3c and lattice parameter, a = 5.002 Å; c = 13.620 Å and, a = 4.913 Å; c = 13.469 Å, respectively; average crystallite size being ∼29.46 nm. Fe³⁺ incorporation in Cr₂O₃ lattice leads to the increase in the particle size as Fe³⁺has larger ionic radii (∼0.67 Å) than Cr³⁺ (∼0.64 Å).Both XRD and EDX showed that Fe₂O₃: Cr₂O₃ nanoparticles exhibit no impurities phases, confirms the presence of Cr, Fe, and O materials. The Tauc’s plot showed a decrease in optical band gap from 3.10 to 2.95 eV for Fe content of 0 to 5 mol%, respectively. All samples revealed weak ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. SEM analysis revealed an increase in particle size from16-38 nm. Electrically, at low frequencies, undoped and low concentration of Fe in Fe₂O₃: Cr₂O₃ shows high values of dielectric constant. Further, this value decreases continuously with the increase in frequency. The study revealed that 3% Fe₂O₃: Cr₂O₃ sample is excellent among all the doping concentrations (1–5 mol%) for magneto-optoelectronic device applications.

Graphical abstract