Effect of Zr addition on structure and electrical properties of SmFeO3 prepared by solid state reaction method

Abstract

Series of Sm1-xFe1-3xZr3xO3 (SFZO, where x = 0.0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.033, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15), was synthesised by the solid state reaction method and sintered at 1500 °C in air. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate the structure of the materials. The XRD results indicated that the pure SmFeO3 and Sm0.99Fe0.97Zr0.03O3 samples are single phase materials with an orthorhombic symmetry and Pbnm space group. The increase of Zr content (x ≥ 0.02) causes a phase change from single to two-phase system with orthorhombic (Pbnm) and fluorite symmetry (Fm3m). ¯ The microstructural analyses showed that the Zr4+ doping resulted in an increase of porosity in the sintered SFZO compared to SmFeO3 sample. The direct current (DC) electrical conductivity at 850 °C in air was found to be 0.045 S/cm and 0.007 S/cm for Sm0.99Fe0.97Zr0.03O3 and SmFeO3, respectively, showing a significant enhancement compared to the pure SmFeO3.