Sol-Gel-Prepared Nanoparticles of Mixed Praseodymium Cobaltites-Ferrites

Two series of nanocrystalline powders of PrCo1-xFexO3 (x = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9) of high purity were obtained by sol-gel citrate method at 700 and 800 degrees C. The formation of continuous solid solution with an orthorhombic perovskite structure (sp. group Pbnm) was observed. A peculiarity of the PrCo(1-x)FexO(3) solid solution is the lattice parameter crossovers, which occurred at certain compositions and revealed in the pseudo-tetragonal or pseudocubic metric. An average crystallite size of the PrCo(1-x)FexO(3) samples estimated from the analysis of the angular dependence of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) line broadening varies between 30 and 155 nm, depending on the composition and synthesis temperature.