Structural, Optical and Magnetic Properties of Multiferroic GdMnO3 Nanoparticles

The structural, optical, and magnetic properties of multiferroic GdMnO3 nanoparticles synthesized by the modified sol-gel route have been investigated. Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction along with Rietveld refinement confirm the pure phase of the GdMnO3 nanoparticles having an orthorhombic perovskite (space group: Pnma) type structure. The morphology was examined by scanning electron microscopy. Energy dispersive spectroscopy confirms the stoichiometry of the composition. The room temperature UV-visible absorption spectrum using Tauc's relation gives an optical band gap of similar to 2.9 eV. A magnetization study of the GdMnO3 nanoparticles was performed over a temperature range of 2-300 K at an applied field of 0.05 T by using a vibrating sample magnetometer. An effective magnetic moment (mu(eff)) of similar to 9.2 mu(B) was obtained. The system is paramagnetic at room temperature and shows a ferromagnetic-like nature at 2 K as the applied magnetic field aligns the Gd moments and the contribution of the net moment of Gd spins is larger than that of the anti-ferromagnetically canted state of the Mn spins.