Structural and Electrical Studies of Polycrystalline Pr𝑥Y1−𝑥FeO3 Materials Prepared Through Sol-Gel Route

Objectives: Investigations on structural, morphological and electrical studies of Pr substituted YFeO3 samples synthesized through sol-gel route are presented in this paper. Methods: PrxY1-xFeO3 (x=0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0) samples are synthesized by sol-gel auto combustion method. Structural characterization of the samples is done by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques. Electrical properties are studied by J-E and Ln J-Ln E measurements. Findings: Rietveld refined XRD structural analysis shows sharp intense peaks indicating the crystalline nature of the samples and all the samples possess distorted orthorhombic structure with space group Pbnm. FESEM analysis shows non-uniform nature of grain size with increasing porosity. EDX data confirms elemental composition, weight and atomic percentage of the prepared samples which further confirms their purity. The leakage current density increases with increase in Pr doping. The slopes of Ln J-Ln E graphs of all the samples are in the range of 1.11 to 1.51 confirming that Ohmic conduction is predominant conduction mechanism. Novelty: Investigations on the effect of Pr substitution on electrical properties of single phase YFeO3­ samples reveal that the substitution of Pr in YFeO3 decreases the ferroelectric nature of the samples. Keywords: Sol-gel method, XRD, FESEM, EDX, Electrical Properties