Er2FeCrO6: Emerging efficient nanomaterials for multiferroics

The present work deals with the rare earth Erbium-based double perovskite. The chemical precipitation route was adopted followed by calcination at 700 °C for the synthesis of Er2FeCrO6 (EFCO). The phase identification was performed using Rietveld refinement. Morphological analysis shows the formation of nanoparticles of EFCO having an average size of ∼15 nm. The M − H curve recorded at 10 K shows the weak ferromagnetic nature of the sample. Temperature variation of magnetization illustrates that EFCO nanoparticles undergo ferromagnetic transition at Tc = 14 K. Temperature-dependent P-E studies display ferroelectric behaviour with a ferroelectric transition temperature (TCE = 453 K) which is beyond room temperature. The simultaneous existence of magnetic and electric orders may introduce EFCO as a new multiferroic oxide and a good alternative to the popular compound BiFeO3.