Citrate precursor synthesis and multifunctional properties of YCrO3 nanoparticles
Abstract
Monophasic and highly crystalline YCrO3 nanoparticles with an average grain size of 22 nm and a high surface area of 344 m2 g−1 have been prepared successfully by using a citrate precursor route for the first time. The two as obtained band gap values of 1.98 eV and 2.95 eV may be associated with the transition of chromium ions. The wedge shaped ferromagnetic loop with a saturation magnetization of 2.48 emu g−1, a remanent magnetization of 0.83 emu g−1 and a coercive field of 12.78 kOe as well as room temperature ferroelectricity with a remanent polarization of 0.009 μC cm−2, a saturation polarization of 0.026 μC cm−2 and a coercive field of −0.66 kV cm−1 establish the multiferroic characteristics of YCrO3 nanoparticles. In addition, humidity sensing characteristics with little repeatability sensor output and the response–recovery time were observed at a significance pace.