Metal-Organic Precursor Synthesis, Structural Characterization, and Multiferroic Properties of GdFeO3 Nanoparticles

GdFeO3 nanoparticles were fabricated by a facile metal-organic precursor method using citric acid as a complexing agent. The phase purity and structural analysis by powder X-ray diffraction and FTIR studies indicates that the material is highly crystalline with an orthorhombic structure. Electron microscopic (TEM and SEM) studies of rare earth ferrites reveal worm-shaped nanoparticles with an average grain size of 95 nm. The high resolution TEM study provides an insightful image, which shows an interplanar spacing of approximately 0.12 nm that corresponds to the (112) crystalline plane. A high surface area of 231.5 m(2) g(-1) has been achieved with a mesoporous texture, which in turn gives a high dielectric constant. Well-defined hysteresis is obtained with a saturation magnetization of 17.5 emu g???1, remanent magnetization of 3.9 emu g(-1), and coercive field of -446 Oe. Room-temperature ferroelectricity in GdFeO3 nanoparticles has been found for the first time with no leaky current and hence may be used in multistate memory devices.