Magnetic, Electrical and Humidity Sensing Properties of Multiferroic GdCrO3 Nanoparticles Fabricated by Metal Organic Precursor Method

Abstract

AbstractMonophasic GdCrO3 nanoparticles have been fabricated by ethylene glycol‐assisted metal citrate precursor method. The as‐prepared nanoparticles have been characterized for phase purity, size and morphology by using powder X‐ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopic techniques. GdCrO3 nanoparticles showed excellent crystallinity with an average particle size of 78 nm and high specific surface area of 184 m2 g−1. The two band gap values of 1.9 eV and 2.3 eV were calculated using K−M function of the UV‐visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Magnetic results of GdCrO3 nanoparticles possess the well defined ferromagnetic loop, which confirms the ferromagnetic characteristics of these nanoparticles. Our results further exhibit improved P−E loop for GdCrO3 nanoparticles showing ferroelectric behaviour at room temperature for the first time which indicates the presence of multiferroic nature. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of sintered/unsintered pellet of GdCrO3 were measured as a function of frequency and temperature. Lastly, the humidity sensing parameters of GdCrO3 nanoparticles have also been reported.