Structural, optical and dielectric properties of tellurium-based double perovskite Sr2Ni1−xZnxTeO6

Abstract

In this paper, Sr₂Ni_1−xZn_xTeO₆ (x = 0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0) double perovskite compounds were synthesised by the conventional solid-state method, and the structural, optical and dielectric properties were investigated. The Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data shows that all compounds were crystallised in monoclinic symmetry with the I2/m space group. Morphological scanning electron microscopy reported that the grain sizes decreased as the dopant increased. The UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy conducted for all samples found that the optical band gap energy, E_g, increased from 3.71 eV to 4.14 eV. The dielectric permittivity ε′ values increased for the highest Zn-doped composition, Sr₂Ni_0.2Zn_0.8TeO₆, being ∼1000 and ∼60 in the low- and high-frequency range, respectively. All samples exhibited low dielectric loss (tan δ ≤ 0.20) in the range of 10⁴–10⁵ Hz frequency. Impedance measurement revealed that grain resistance decreased with enhancement in Zn content in the Sr₂NiTeO₆ crystal lattice.