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Structural, thermal, optical, and magnetic behavior of the nanosized perovskite-like GdFeO3 synthesized by modified co-precipitation method

We are happy to announce that Dr. Vu Thi Ngoc Anh and colleagues recently published their work entitled "Structural, thermal, optical, and magnetic behavior of the nanosized perovskite-like GdFeO3 synthesized by modified co-precipitation method" in the Springer.

Abstract:

GdFeO3 nanoparticles were synthesized using an improved co-precipitation method using a 5% ammonium hydrogen carbonate solution, followed by annealing for 1 h at 750, 850, and 950 °C. The synthesized samples were characterized using DSC/TGA, FTIR, PXRD, TEM, EDX/EDX-mapping, UV–Vis, and VSM analyses. The DSC curve exhibited two endothermic peaks (70.45 and 141.30 °C) and three exothermic peaks (333.01, 480.93, and 723.41 °C), while TGA analysis indicated that mass loss ceased at approximately 750 °C. PXRD patterns of all calcined samples confirmed a perovskite structure with space group Pbnm, and the average crystalline size and lattice volume increased with rising annealing temperatures. TEM images revealed that the synthesized GdFeO3 nanoparticles were weakly angular spherical particles ranging from approximately 20–55 nm. Magnetic analysis showed that the GdFeO3 orthoferrite nanopowder exhibited paramagnetic behavior, with net magnetization (Mn ~ 1.4 – 2.0 emu·g−1) increasing with calcination temperature while maintaining negligible remanence and coercivity. Additionally, the nanoparticles displayed strong optical absorption in the UV (λ ~ 200 – 400 nm) and visible (λ ~ 400 – 600 nm) regions. Compared to certain reported RFeO3 perovskites (R = Gd, Nd, Y, La, Ho), the synthesized GdFeO3 nanopowder demonstrated both higher magnetization and a significantly lower band gap energy.