Effect of different synthetic routes on the structural, morphological and magnetic properties of Ce doped LaFeO3 nanoparticles

The Ce-doped (x = 0.05 and 0.1) LaFeO3 nanoparticles have been synthesized via two different synthetic approaches i. e. solution combustion and co-precipitation method. The effect of varying composition as well as the method of preparation on various physico-chemical properties of LaFeO3 has been compared by exploiting various states of art techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, UV-Visible Spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) adsorption, Scanning and transmission Electron Microscopy, Mossbauer Spectroscopy, and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM). The average crystallite size has been found to decrease with increase in Ce content in LaFeO3 obtained via both the methods. UV-Visible spectra have been recorded to get idea about the change in band gap of LaFeO3 upon Ce doping. BET measurements have indicated an increase in specific surface area with Ce doping. Further, Ce doping has been found to enhance the magnetic parameters as compared to that of un-doped LaFeO3, which is important from the technological point of view. The solution combustion method has been found to generate better impact on the physico-chemical properties of Ce-doped LaFeO3 nanoparticles than that of co-precipitation method. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.