Structural and Dielectric Progression of 5 % Gd Doped BiFeO3 Nanoparticles Through Cr (2-8%) Doping

This study reports the structural modifications in undoped multiferroic BiFeO3 (bismuth ferrite or BFO) nanoparticles caused by doping at both the A-site (by 5% Gd) and B-site (by 2-8% Cr) and the resulting improvements in dielectric characteristics. Both un-doped and doped BFO nanoparticles were synthesized using the sol-gel technique and annealed at 600°C for crystallization. X-ray diffractometry (XRD) reveals a phase transition from rhombic (R3c) to orthorhombic (Pn21a). Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) study shows the production of nanoparticles with sizes ranging from 80 to 130 nm. Impedance analyzer experiments (100 Hz-10 MHz) show that the dielectric characteristics of doubly doped BFO are very stable over a wide frequency range. The dielectric permittivity of co-doped BFO decreases with Cr doping concentration up to x = 0.06 before reversing. The conductivity drops dramatically as the Cr content rises. Journal of Engineering Science 12(3), 2021, 101-110

Influence of Cr-doping on structural, magnetic and dielectric properties of M-type hexaferrites synthesized using microwave digestion technique

M-type hexaferrite SrCrxFe12-xO19 compounds doped with Cr (x=0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 at.%) were prepared by microwave digestion system. X-ray diffraction was used to study the structure and crystallization of the samples. The samples are found to have a hexagonal phase, SrFe12O19, as a main phase at 2Θ ≈ 33.144° and 35.618° for x = 0 and 1 respectively, and 32.451° and 34.295° for x ≥ 2. The Rietveld refined parameters such as the lattice parameters (a=b, c), direct and indirect cell volume, crystallite size and microstrain were investigated. TEM and SEM results showed that the samples have hexagonal shape and grain sizes range from 126 nm to 379 nm. Magnetization, M, as a function of the applied magnetic field, H, was obtained from the hysteresis loop. The coercive field, HC , saturation, Ms and remnant, Mr , magnetization and squareness ration, Mr/Ms , were extracted from the hysteresis loop results. These results revealed that HC is inversely proportional with the grains size of the samples but directly proportional with Cr-doping values candidating these compounds to be used in computer hard disk memories applications. M values are inversely proportional with Cr-doping values. The variation of conductivity, σ, impedance, Z, dielectric constant, ε, dielectric loss factor, tan δ and dissipation factor as functions of both AC frequency, F(Hz) and Cr-doping, x, were investigated. The maximum value of the dissipation factor was at x=2 which equals 8.05x109 m/F when F = 2x105 Hz. The impedance of the samples behaved as a capacitor reactance that makes our compounds candidate for many crucial dielectric applications.

Effects of Cr Doping and Water Content on the Crystal Structure Transitions of Ba2In2O5

Temperature-dependent crystal structure alterations in the brownmillerite-type material Ba2In2O5 play a fundamental role in its applications: i) photocatalytic CO2 conversion; ii) oxygen transport membranes; and iii) proton conduction. This is connected to a reversible uptake of up an equimolar amount of water. In this study, in situ X-ray and neutron diffraction were combined with Raman spectroscopy and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance experiments to unravel the effects of Cr doping and water content on the crystal structure transitions of Ba2In2O5(H2O)x over a wide temperature range (10 K ≤ T ≤ 1573 K, x < 1). A mixture of isolated and correlated protons was identified, leading to a highly dynamic situation for the protons. Hence, localisation of the protons by diffraction techniques was not possible. Cr doping led to an overall higher degree of disorder and stabilisation of the tetragonal polymorph, even at 10 K. In contrast, a further disordering at high temperatures, leading to a cubic polymorph, was found at 1123 K. Cr doping in Ba2In2O5 resulted in severe structural changes and provides a powerful way to adjust its physical properties to the respective application.

Structural, Optical and Electrical Characterizations of Cr-doped CuO Thin Films

The polycrystalline copper oxide (CuO) thin films have been produced using method of spin coating onto the soda lime glass (SLG) as well as substrate of p-type Si (1 0 0) wafers at 500 ºC in furnace. The obtained undoped and Cr doped thin films of CuO have been comprehensively characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet–vis (UV–vis) spectroscopy, the current–voltage ( I – V ) and capacitance–voltage ( C – V ) characteristics for providing information on quality of the crystalline nature, change in energy band gap and electrical properties, respectively. Structural analysis results which obtained from XRD data demonstrate that CuO films conjunction with Cr doping indicated that all thin films have monoclinic polycrystalline nature, with two main peaks (002) and (111) with d hkl about 2.52 and 2.32 Å, respectively. The transmittance and energy band gap value of undoped and Cr doped thin films of CuO ranging in varying concentration ratio have been determined in the wavelength region of 300 to 1100 nm. UV–vis spectrum analysis results indicate that both transmittance value and energy band gap of the CuO films is changed with increasing Cr doping ratio in CuO solution at room temperature. The I–V and C–V characteristic of Cr:CuO/p-Si diodes were associated with the CuO/p-Si diodes. It is seen that doping of Cr had a significant change onv the obtained devices’ performance. Thus, the Cr:CuO/p-Si diodes generated by 1% Cr doping using spin coating method had the highest light sensitivity compared with those of the other diodes.

Precise Determination of Optical Band Gap in Cr-Doped Semiconductor Nanowires

Pristine and chromium-doped ZnO nanowires were prepared following the traditional co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction data identified a pure wurtzite hexagonal crystal structure characteristic for ZnO, irrespective of the doping level. The particle size, as deduced form Williamson–Hall plots, was found to be 45-55 nm for all samples. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a clear nanowires morphology for the pure and doped samples, while elemental analysis ensured the successful Cr-doping. Distinct spectroscopic signatures of Cr-doping were revealed from a detailed deconvolution process applied to optical spectra of doped samples, where Cr 3+ optical transitions were unambiguously identified at ~420 and ~665 nm. Particularly relevant, is the spectral decomposition here performed for the superimposed absorption edge (~385 nm) and Cr 3+ optical resonance at ~420 nm, allowing to claim practically doping-independent optical band gap behavior in the present doping regime. This is further supported by identifying the characteristic ZnO near edge photoluminescence peak (~ 392 nm) which maintains fixed wavelength after Cr-doping. These findings contrast earlier studies on Cr-doped semiconductor nanoparticles and glass systems where the optical band gap has been largely underestimated. We attribute the inconsistence band gap values reported in literature for Cr-doped semiconductors to the proximity of Cr optical transitions to the semiconductor absorption edge.