Investigation of Structural and Magnetic Properties of Sm Substituted LaYFe2O6

Abstract

Double perovskite oxides bring in a lot of promise as they have spawned interest in recent years due to their fascinating physical properties and rich physics behind it. In this context, La1-xSmxYFe2O6 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75) are successfully synthesized by the sol-gel auto combustion method. The phase confirmation of the samples is done by the Rietveld refined X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and surface morphologies are inspected by the field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The magnetic properties are investigated by the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) at the high temperature region. XRD study revealed that pristine (x = 0) sample shows biphasic crystallographic behavior [P21nm (~90%) + Pbnm (~10%)], whereas samarium (Sm) plays a crucial role in the manifestation of single phase double perovskite structure (P21nm phase only) in the x = 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 samples. Improved crystallinity as well as grain growth process could be observed by the substitution. Interestingly, the magnetic parameters show the drastic change by the Sm substitution. The coercivity, remanent magnetization, and maximum magnetization are dramatically enhanced from 219 Oe to 7445 Oe, 3.7 memu/g to 254.2 memu/g, and 188 memu/g to 619 memu/g respectively for x = 0 to x = 0.75 sample at room temperature and thus ferromagnetic order is established here. The improved magnetic properties and large hysteresis loop obtained by Sm substitution in LaYFe2O6 ceramics, look promising for future magnetic device applications.