Strain control of Urbach energy in Cr-doped PrFeO3

Abstract

Polycrystalline samples of PrFe1−xCrxO3 having average particle size of ~90 nm have been prepared by wet chemical route. The structural phase purity of the prepared samples is confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction followed by Rietveld refinements. It is observed that with Cr doping, the Urbach energy (Eu) increases. The Eu is measure of the various disorders present in the sample, such as chemical and structural. To understand the contribution to the Eu due to chemical and structural disorders, we have probed the chemical and structural disorders in the samples by elemental mappings and through X-ray diffraction experiments, respectively. Elemental mapping confirms chemical homogeneity of prepared samples. It is observed that with Cr doping the crystallographic strain increases and Urbach energy shows the similar scaling. © 2017, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.