Crystal structure, optical and magnetic properties of PrFeO3 nanoparticles prepared by modified co-precipitation method

In this work PrFeO3 nanoparticles were synthesized by modified co-precipitation method and annealed at different temperatures up to 850 degrees C. The annealed PrFeO3 nanoparticles have single phase orthorhombic structure and the average particle size of 25-30 nm. Due to the very small particle size the prepared PrFeO3 nanoparticles are capable of being used as photocatalyst materials thanks to their strong adsorption bands at 230-400 nm and 400-800 nm observed from the UV-Vis spectra. Additionally, the PrFeO3 nanoparticles are paramagnetic materials with H-c similar to 10 Oe and M-r similar to 0. These findings demonstrate their potential use not only as photocatalysts, but also as magnetic materials.