Study of La(Fe, Zn)O₃on the structural properties prepared by sol-gel method

Partial substitution of other metallic ions at La and/or Fe sites of LaFeO3 had been applied to modify the structural properties and for enhancing the properties of its material. In this present work, we prepared LaFeO3 by replacing a portion of Fe3+ with Zn2+ with x = 0.03; 0.05; and 0.07 to study the effect on the structural which prepared by sol-gel method. The samples were identified by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra, Raman spectroscopy, and Ultraviolet-Visible Diffuse Reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS). XRD pattern showed all of the samples formed in single crystal and are having an orthorhombic structure with space group Pbnm. The lattice parameters were found to be slightly increased with the increase of Zn concentration. The result of FTIR spectra and Raman spectra also show further information about the formation of LaFeO3 with the distortion due to the replacement of Zn2+ into Fe3+. The absorbance and reflectance of samples are measured using UV-Vis DRS and the energy band gap of LaFe1-x Zn x O3 ( x = 0.03; 0.05; and 0.07) are determined by Tauc plot using Kubelka-Munk function and was found the energy band gap slightly decreased as the concentration of Zn2+ increased.