Fe-57 Mossbauer Study Of Spin Reorientation Transition In Polycrystalline Ndfeo3

The present work reports the preparation of polycrystalline NdFeO3 using sol-gel method and characterization using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, bulk magnetization, Fe-57 Mossbauer spectroscopy and ferroelectric measurements. XRD and Raman spectroscopy measurements confirm the phase purity of the prepared sample. The temperature dependent magnetization measurement shows the signatures of spin re-orientation transition (T-SRT) between 66 and 158 K and magnetic field induced transition at about 2.5 T and 5 K. It is observed from the low temperature (25-300 K) Fe-57 Mossbauer measurements that the temperature variation of hyperfine parameters shows the signatures of T-SRT. The observed area ratio of second and third line intensity (A(23)) in Mossbauer sextet, across T-SRT, show deviations from the value characteristic of random spin orientation in polycrystalline sample. In addition, the quadrupole shift changes sign across T-SRT indicating the spin-reorientation of Fe3+ ions. The room temperature leakage current density (J-E) measurements indicate that Ohmic contribution and space charge limited conduction are the dominating mechanisms at low and high applied electric fields, respectively, similar to that of other RFeO3 (R-rare earth) based compounds. Lossy ferroelectric loops were observed at room temperature. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.