Structural, optical and magnetic properties of Pr2FeCrO6 nanoparticles

Single phase perovskite oxide Pr2FeCrO6 (PFCO) in nanoparticles form was synthesized by low-temperature co-precipitation technique. Structural studies based on the analysis of X-ray diffraction patterns using Pbnm space group show that these nanoparticles exhibit larger structural distortion as compared to their bulk counterpart. Local structural modification due to structural distortion is confirmed through electron density mapping of PFCO nanoparticles. The energy band gap (E-g) obtained from the optical absorption study is 2.13 eV and it is found to be slightly larger than the corresponding bulk system (1.4-2.0 eV). Temperature variation of magnetization shows that these nanoparticles undergo a ferrimagnetic transition at T-c similar to 245 K followed by a large irreversibility (87%) under field (1 kOe) cooled condition. The M-H loops recorded at 10 and 50K show the presence of significant remanent magnetization and considerable coercive field due to surface spin canting of nanoparticles.