Structural, electrical and magnetic studies on Y-Fe-O system

The compounds of iron substituted yttrium oxide systems have been prepared for the importance in the field of magneto electric materials. The polycrystalline samples of Y2-xFexO3-y (x=0.1, 0.2) were prepared by solid-state reaction method. The single-phase formation of these compounds was confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. It was found that the samples crystallized in tetragonal phase and the lattice parameters were calculated as a=1.0559(7) nm, c=1.0832(9) nm for Y1.9Fe0.1O3-y, and a=1.0545(6) nm, c=1.0841(8) nm for Y1.8Fe0.2O3-y. The lattice constant changed with the variation of Fe concentration, which indicated the incorporation of Fe3+ into the hosting Y2O3. The semiconducting nature of the prepared compounds was observed with the energy gap calculation from diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) studies. The ferromagnetic nature of the prepared compounds was identified with vibrating sample magnetometer studies. This information were corroborated by the observation of the well broadened EPR lines in the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of the samples with a low Fe concentration, which manifested the onset of Fe-Fe exchange interaction in the prepared samples.