Effects of vacancy co-doping on the structure, magnetic and dielectric properties of LaFeO3 perovskite nanoparticles

Perovskite nanoparticles La1-xxFe1-yyO3, (y = x = 0.0, 0.01 and 0.02) were prepared using the citrate combustion method. The samples were crystallized in a single phase orthorhombic structure. The energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) confirms that the chemical composition is very close to the nominal one. The particle size values indicated that the samples were prepared in nano scale. The selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern shows the good crystallinity of the samples. The magnetic hysteresis loops indicate the antiferromagnetic properties of the samples. The molar magnetic susceptibility (chi(M)) of LaFeO3 sample was enhanced by vacancy doping. The value of M-s of the sample La0.980.02Fe0.980.02O3 increased by a factor 1.9 than that of sample LaFeO3. The investigated samples have semiconductor-like behavior as clear from the increase in the conductivity with raising the temperature and the values of activation energies. The main conduction mechanisms in the investigated samples are the small polaron tunneling (SP) and the correlated barrier hopping (CBH).