Effects of Ge substitution on the structural and physical properties of CuFeO2 delafossite oxide

Delafossite CuFe1-xGexO2 (0.0 <= x <= 0.1) semiconductors were synthesized by solid-state reaction. The effects of Ge concentration on microstructural, optical, magnetic and electrical properties were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis results reveal the delafossite structure of all the samples. The lattice spacing of CuFe1-xGexO2 decreased with increasing substitution of Ge at the Fe site. The optical properties measured at room temperature by UV-visible spectroscopy showed an absorption peak at 283 nm (4.38 eV). The corresponding direct optical band gap was found to decrease with increasing Ge content (from 3.69 eV for x = 0 to 3.61 eV for x = 0.10), exhibiting transparency in the visible region. The magnetic hysteresis loops measured at room temperature showed that the Ge-doped CuFeO2 samples exhibit ferromagnetic behavior. The Curie temperature suggests that ferromagnetism originates from CuFe1-xGexO2 matrices. The substitution of Fe3+ by Ge4+ produces a mixed effect on the magnetic properties of CuFeO2 delafossite oxide. The resistivity of CuFe0.99Ge0.01O2 was observed to be similar to 0.1 Omega.cm at room temperature. (C) 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics