Studies on microstructure and magnetic, dielectric properties of ErCr1-xFexO3

The microstructure, magnetic and dielectric properties of the ErCr1-xFexO3 (x = 0-0.5) prepared by traditional solid-state reaction were systematically investigated. The structural refinement performed with XRD based on Pbnm space group shows that the lattice parameters increase monotonously with Fe3+ concentration, and the octahedral CrO6 distortion enhances. The local electron density and vacancy defect concentration in ErCr1-x-FexO3, identified by the positron annihilation spectroscopy, gradually increase with the Fe3+ doping. The temperature-dependent magnetization reveals that the Neel temperature (TN) gradually increases, while the spin-reorientation temperature (TSR) decreases, which can be explained by the variation in the magnitude of weak ferromagnetic moment for different Fe3+ concentrations. The temperature dependence of dielectric constant shows that the TSR decreases by 50% (from 25.1 K to 12.7 K) when the doping amount reaches x = 0.5, it is in accordance with the transformation of TSR in magnetism. Magnetodielectric coupling is significantly improved due to the magnetic structural variation produced by doping of compound with Fe3+ cations.