Abstract
Cobalt-doped neodymium orthoferrite (NdFe1-xCoxO3) samples have been synthesized through sol-gel combustion method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that these samples conform in orthorhombic perovskite structure. The crystallite sizes range between 12 and 14 nm. Bond angle (Fe-O-Fe) and bond length (Fe-O) exhibit variation with cobalt doping as determined by the Rietveld refinement. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs with energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis show the uniformly structured surface morphology and confirm the elemental compositions of the synthesized samples. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns show the crystalline nature of the samples with visibly distinguishable planes. The energy band gap decreases while Urbach energy increases with cobalt doping. The presence of characteristic bands in FTIR spectra confirms the formation of the samples. Néel temperature increases with the increase in Co concentration as detected using differential thermal analysis (DTA). The dielectric constant exhibits an increase with the increase in doping concentration. The Cole-Cole plots confirm non-Debye type of behavior for all the samples and the dielectric constant deviates from universal dielectric response (UDR) model at lower frequencies.
Published Version
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