Study of gadolinium substitution effects in hexagonal yttrium manganite YMnO3

In the present work, gadolinium substitution effects on the properties of yttrium manganite YxGd1-xMn0.97Fe0.03O3 (x from 0 to 1 with a step of 0.2) synthesized by an aqueous sol-gel method have been investigated. Partial substitution of Mn3+ by Fe-57(3+) in the manganite was also performed in order to investigate deeper the structural properties of synthesized compounds applying Mossbauer spectroscopy. It was demonstrated that substitution of Y3+ by Gd3+ ions leads to the changes of structural, magnetic and morphological properties of investigated system. The crystal structure gradually transformed from hexagonal to orthorhombic with an increase of Gd3+ content in the crystal lattice. The mixed phase was obtained when x=0.6, whereas other compounds were determined to be monophasic. Magnetization measurements revealed paramagnetic behavior of all specimens, however magnetization values were found to be dependent on chemical composition of the samples. Solid solutions with orthorhombic structure revealed higher magnetization values compared to those of hexagonal samples. The highest magnetization was observed for pure GdMn0.97Fe0.03O3. Structural properties were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction, Mossbauer, FTIR and Raman spectroscopies. Morphological features of the synthesized specimens were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Automated summary

In this study, YxGd1-xMn0.97Fe0.03O3 compounds were synthesized by an aqueous sol-gel method, and the effects of gadolinium substitution on their properties were investigated. It was found that substitution of Gd3+ ions led to changes in structural, magnetic, and morphological properties of the compounds, with solid solutions having orthorhombic structure showing higher magnetization values. The highest magnetization was observed for pure GdMn0.97Fe0.03O3.