Synthesis and characterization of cerium doped lanthanum ferrites

Abstract

In this work, Lanthanum ferrites doped with cerium concentration of 1% at, 3% at, and 5% at were synthesized by sol-gel method, considering calcination temperatures of 700 °C, 800 °C and 900 °C. Conventional X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry techniques were used to study the cerium effect and calcination temperature on structural, morphological, and magnetic properties of powder samples. The identified phase for samples corresponds to an orthorhombic perovskite structure with Pbnm (#62) space group without the presence of impurity phases. Crystallite size increases with calcination temperature, which is associated with crystallinity of the samples, however a decrease in the crystallite size of the doped samples can be evidenced with respect to the pure sample. A weak ferromagnetic behavior coexisting with a paramagnetic behavior is evidenced for the samples with calcination temperatures of 700 °C and 800 °C. The samples calcined at 900 ºC, reflect a predominant paramagnetic behavior.