Metal transition doping effect on the structural and physical properties of delafossite-type oxide CuCrO2

Highlights: → Non-magnetic replacement of the Cr in the magnetic frustrated CuCrO2. → Strain generated by substitution is strongly anisotropic. → M3+-O bond strength is affected. → High temperature paramagnetic behavior and weak ferromagnetism at low temperature. → Magnetic behavior depends on the chemical impurity. - Abstract: In this paper we reported on the non magnetic substitution effects on the structural, spectroscopic, and magnetic properties of the CuCrO2 delafossite. The incorporation of M3+ generates very anisotropic microstrains in the structure beside a magnetic dilution. The temperature dependence of all samples exhibits paramagnetic behavior at high temperature. It is argued that non magnetic-substitution destabilizes the antiferromagnetic order of Cr3+ ions and modulates the spin configuration leading to a weak ferromagnetism. The coupling between the magnetic order and ferroelectric order is also characterized.