Structural and optical properties of Sr-doped NdFeO 3 nanoparticles prepared by a simple co-precipitation method

The present study reports the structure and optical properties of Sr-doped NdFeO 3 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−x Sr x FeO 3 ; 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 Å 3 ). The obtained Sr-doped NdFeO 3 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−x Co x O 3 , Y 1−x Sm x FeO 3 , HoFe 1−x Ni x O 3 , LaFe 1−x Ti x O 3 , and Y 1−x Gd x Fe 1−x Co y O 3 synthesized by different methods. The excellent optical properties of Sr-doped NdFeO 3 nanomaterials give them great potential for applications related to optics. Graphical abstract Sr-doped NdFeO 3 nanoparticles were synthesized by the simple co-precipitation method. The obtained Sr-doped NdFeO 3 nanoparicles have higher absorption in the visible region than in the UV range and the band gap value (E g = 0.87–1.06 eV) is much lower than similar rare-earth perovskites synthesized by different methods.