Abstract
The ceramic sample of ScFeO3 (SFO) has been prepared by standard high temperature solid state reaction method using high purity oxides. The formation of the compound as well as structural analysis has been carried out by X-ray diffraction method which confirmed the rhombohedral symmetry with polar space group R3c. The average grain size obtained by the Scherrer formula is of the order of 560 A. The surface morphology of SFO has been investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The average roughness obtained by two dimensional surface morphology ranges from 5.80 nm to 20.2 nm for surface area 5×5μm2 to 10×10μm2 respectively. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss as a function of frequency (100Hz-1MHz) and temperature (RT-650K) have been measured. At RT and 1kHz frequency the material shows high dielectric constant value (around 1800) with lossy nature. The transport properties such as I-V characteristics, ac and dc conductivities have been measured and activation energy was calculated using the Arrhenius relation. The I-V characteristic along with ac and dc conductivity studies show semiconducting behaviour with dc activation energy of 0.81eV. The Magnetic measurement indicates weak ferromagnetic behaviour. The Enthalpy change (ΔH), Specific heat (Cp) and % Weight-loss of the compound have been measured using DTA/TGA technique. The DTA curve shows transition around 1088K with Cp =2.3Jg-1K-1 and ΔH=18.4Jg-1. The low weight loss (around 2%) from RT -1200K suggest that the material is thermally stable. The results are discussed in detail.
Highlights
The surge of interest in multiferroic materials over the past fifteen years has been driven by their fascinating physical properties and huge potential for technological applications [1]
The ceramic sample of SFO was prepared by solid state reaction method at high temperature and normal pressure
The results revealed that the sample has rhombohedral symmetry with space group R3c
Summary
The surge of interest in multiferroic materials over the past fifteen years has been driven by their fascinating physical properties and huge potential for technological applications [1]. Multiferroics can be classified into two groups according to their origin of coexisting magnetic and ferroelectric orders. It is interesting to note that in a perovskite with formula ABO3, the ferroelectric B site cation requires empty d-orbitals while the ferromagnetism requires B-site. American Journal of Modern Physics 2017; 6(6): 132-139 cations with partially filled d-orbitals. Since both these conditions cannot be met simultaneously in a material to overcome these difficulty, perovskite oxides with small A-site cation has been synthesised to create polar magnetic materials [9]. For SFO, t= 0.742 which implies that A-site cation is much smaller than B-type cation and the SFO is less stable and more distorted perovskite structure [12]. BiFeO3 and other materials but no much work have been reported on SFO due to its peculiar behaviour at the same time it has been synthesized at high pressure and low temperature and present paper reports on synthesis of SFO at high temperature and normal pressure and its other physical properties
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