Structural, Dielectric and Magnetic Studies of Perovskite [Gd_1−xM_xCrO₃ (M = La, Co, Bi)] Nanoparticles: Photocatalytic Degradation of Dyes

Abstract

Abstract Nanoparticles (NPs) of Gd 1−x M x CrO 3 (M = La, Co, Bi) were synthesized by microemulsion techniques, involving simultaneous single ion substitution philosophy. Structural, magnetic, dielectric properties, morphology, elemental analysis and distribution size of fabricated nano-crystalline were determined. The techniques employed for investigation are X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), dielectric measurement and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), photoluminescence (PL) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. XRD pattern confirm that all the as-synthesized NPs have orthorhombic structure and successfully substituted of different metal ions into the regular crystal structure of GdCrO 3 . The lattice parameters X-ray density, bulk density, porosity and grain size were calculated from XRD pattern of Gd 1−x M x CrO 3 (M = La, Co, Bi) substituted and un-substituted GdCrO 3 . The magnetic hysteresis loop of fabricated product confirmed that the entire sample exhibits ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. It was also found that the fabricated NPs show excellent photocatalytic activity (PCA) against Congo-red, about 78.24% after 55 min of incubation.