Synthesis and structure characterisation of micro-and nanocrystalline powders of Dy1−xRxFeO3 (R = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd)

Abstract

This work deals with the study of the phase and crystal structure behaviour of new micro- and nanocrystalline ferrites Dy1−xRxFeO3 obtained by solid state reactions (R = La, Pr) and sol–gel citrate (R = Nd, Sm, Gd) techniques. It was established that all synthesized samples adopt orthorhombic perovskite structure isotypic with GdFeO3. Unit cell dimensions and atomic coordinates of the mixed rare earth ferrites derived by full profile Rietveld refinement technique agree well with the data of the “pure” DyFeO3 and RFeO3 compounds, thus proving formation of continuous solid solutions Dy1−xRxFeO3 in the DyFeO3–RFeO3 systems (R = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd). Peculiarity of the Dy1−xLaxFeO3 series is the lattice parameters crossover and formation of dimensionally tetragonal structure at x ≈ 0.97.