Investigation on interatomic chemical bonding and charge-related optical, multiferroic properties of La1−xZnxFeO3 bulk ceramics

Abstract

A series of Zn-substituted La1−xZnxFeO3 (x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.15, and 0.25) bulk ceramics was prepared using solid-state reaction method. The XRD patterns and profile refinements confirm the orthorhombic phase formation in La1−xZnxFeO3. The charge density distribution in the La1−xZnxFeO3 unit cells were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The average particle size and energy band gap were determined using the SEM images and UV–Visible absorption spectra. The magnetic hysteresis (M − H) curves show weak ferromagnetic order and shift in the hysteresis curves. The Zn-substituted system (x = 0.25), exhibits relatively high dielectric constant with low dielectric loss. Ferroelectric measurements show the rectangular-like P-E loops with Barkhausen jumps. In this work, the effect of Zn-substitution on the crystal lattice and hence the modified optical, and multiferroic properties of LaFeO3 have been examined through charge density analysis which has not been investigated so far.