Influence of Ni substitution at B-site for Fe3+ ions on morphological, optical, and magnetic properties of HoFeO3 ceramics

Present study reports the effect of Ni substitution at B-site in HoFeO3 on the morphological, optical and magnetic properties. These compounds were prepared by solid-state reaction method. Scanning electron microscope reveals an increase in average grain sizes with Ni concentration. Absorption and emission spectra show redshift in band gap with increase in Ni ion concentrations. The Tauc plots show direct allowed transitions. Temperaturedependent magnetization studies on these compounds revealed the transition from ferromagnetism to paramagnetism. There is separation between temperature at which zero-field-cooled and field-cooled occurs at varied temperature with Ni substitution. The separation effect is related to the impact of the paramagnetic Ho3+ ions, whose magnitude becomes more prominent at higher temperature. The value of squareness ratio in these materials is below 0.5 indicating presence of multidomain structures.