Modification of Structural and Dielectric Properties of SmFeO3 Orthoferrites System by Ce Doping

Abstract

Rare-earth orthoferrites RFeO3 are important functional materials and are very promising due to their unique electrical properties. Amongst various orthoferrites systems, SmFeO3 is emerging as potential system having various multifunctional behaviour with structural modifications by doping or microstructural effect. In the present attempt, we explore SmFeO3 system and modify it by partially replacing Sm by Ce. We have synthesised pure SmFeO3 based system through Sol-Gel one of the combustion method. X-ray diffraction study confirms the formation of pure and highly crystalline single phase without any impurity. To get more clarity about structural features, Rietveld Refinement has been carried out using by Full-Proof Software which confirms the formation of orthorhombic structure with Pbnm space group. Dielectric study confirms that Ce doping in SmFeO3 modify dielectric constant from one order to two order. The response of polarisation with respect to applied electric field has been studied by P-E loop tracer. The remanent polarisation (pr) enhanced from 0.040 to 0.050 µC/cm2 for x = 0.10 after applied maximum electric field. An improvement in the ferroelectric loop was obtained due to the suppression of oxygen vacancies and the reduced leakage current density (10 − 8 A/cm2 at 20 kV/cm).