57Fe Mossbauer and electrical studies of Mn doped YFeO3 prepared via sol-gel technique

Abstract

Polycrystalline YFe_1−xMn_xO₃ (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5) samples are prepared via sol-gel method. Structural characterization of these samples is done by x-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and Raman spectroscopic method. Intense peaks in XRD graphs show that the sample is crystalline in nature and Reitveld refined XRD data shows that the samples are formed in single phase. Raman spectroscopic study confirms the structure and phase purity of the samples. Room temperature ⁵⁷Fe Mossbauer studies confirm that Fe ion exists in ferric state. The hyperfine field (B_hf) values are found to decrease with increase in manganese (Mn) concentration. This decrease in B_hf value indicates the increase in antiferromagnetic nature of the samples, which arises due to the weakening of magnetic interactions between the Fe ions. From room temperature leakage current density (J-E) measurements, it is observed that leakage current density increases with increase in Mn doping. Scanning electron micrographs explain the reason of increase in leakage current density based on the micro structure of the samples. The samples are found to exhibit Ohmic conduction mechanism in entire electric field range.