Magnetic, Electrical and Humidity Sensing Properties of Multiferroic GdCrO <sub>3</sub> Nanoparticles Fabricated by Metal Organic Precursor Method
Irfan H. Lone, Huma Khan, Irshad A. Wani, Arvind Kumar Jain, Tokeer Ahmad
Abstract
Abstract Monophasic GdCrO 3 nanoparticles have been fabricated by ethylene glycol‐assisted metal citrate precursor method. The as‐prepared nanoparticles have been characterized for phase purity, size and morphology by using powder X‐ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopic techniques. GdCrO 3 nanoparticles showed excellent crystallinity with an average particle size of 78 nm and high specific surface area of 184 m 2 g −1 . The two band gap values of 1.9 eV and 2.3 eV were calculated using K−M function of the UV‐visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Magnetic results of GdCrO 3 nanoparticles possess the well defined ferromagnetic loop, which confirms the ferromagnetic characteristics of these nanoparticles. Our results further exhibit improved P−E loop for GdCrO 3 nanoparticles showing ferroelectric behaviour at room temperature for the first time which indicates the presence of multiferroic nature. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of sintered/unsintered pellet of GdCrO 3 were measured as a function of frequency and temperature. Lastly, the humidity sensing parameters of GdCrO 3 nanoparticles have also been reported.