Investigations on the temperature dependent electrical and magnetic properties of NiTiO3 by molten salt synthesis

Submicron-sized NiTiO3 particles were successfully synthesized by simple molten salt method. The phase purity and crystal structure was confirmed through X-ray diffraction. The characteristics bands of Ni-O and Ti-O were identified using Fourier Transform Infra-red spectrum. The SEM and TEM images shows that the particles are lying in the range of 150-300 nm and selected area electron diffraction pattern (SAED) infers the single crystalline nature of NiTiO3. The impedance spectra elucidate the grain interior conducting mechanism and semi-conducting nature of NiTiO3 at elevated temperatures. The frequency dependent conductance spectra were found to obey Jonscher's power law and a maximum value of conductivity observed was 2 x 10(-5) S cm(-1) at 520 degrees C. The magnetic susceptibility measurement infers the antiferromagnetic behavior with the Neel temperature (T-N) of 14.9 K. The increase in coercivity below T-N reveals the coexistence of antiferromagnetic with superparamagnetic behavior. B-H curve represents the first order phase transition from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic transition. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.