Effect of zirconium substitution on structural and optical properties of lanthanum orthoferrite

Lanthanum Orthoferrite (LaFeO3) is one of the perovskite oxide ABO3 materials. In this study, LaFe1-x Zr x O3 ( x = 0.01, 0.03 and 0.05) were synthesized by sol-gel method. Synthesized LaFeO3 with substituted Zr on Fe-site was characterized for crystal structures and optical properties. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms that the LaFe1-x Zr x O3 material has an orthorhombic structure with Pnma space group. The local structure of this sample was studied using Raman spectroscopy. Raman analysis shows, there are Zr4+ substituted effect on the tilt and stretching phonon modes of LaFeO3. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) characterization test confirmed the effect of substitution on structural properties in terms of the upward shift of tilt, bending, and symmetric stretching of Fe-O-Fe bonds in FeO6. Optical bandgap has been determined using Kubelka-Munk function with the Tauc connection by the Uv-Vis Spectrophotometer which shows that the energy bands decrease (2.14-2.10 eV) with increased Zr-content.