Structural and optical properties of Sr-doped NdFeO₃ nanoparticles prepared by a simple co-precipitation method

The present study reports the structure and optical properties of Sr-doped NdFeO₃ nanoparticles synthesized by the simple co-precipitation method without the introduction of surfactants. Structural phase formation of the crystal exhibited orthorhombic planes of all samples (Nd_1-xSr_x FeO₃ ; x = 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3). The average crystal size and unit cell volume are increasing with a dopant (D XRD = 28 ± 3–35±3 nm; V = 236.52–238.07 ų). The obtained Sr-doped NdFeO₃ nanoparticles have higher absorption in the visible region (λ = 400–800 nm) than in the UV range (λ= 200–400 nm) and the band gap value (E_g = 0.87–1.06 eV) is much lower than similar rare-earth perovskite series such as NdFe_1-xCo_xO₃ , Y_1-xSm_x FeO₃, HoFe_1-xNi_xO₃, LaFe_1-xTi_xO₃ and Y_1-xGd_xFe_1-xCo_yO₃ synthesized by different methods. The excellent optical properties of Sr-doped NdFeO₃ nanomaterials give them great potential for applications related to optics. (author)