Optimization of better chelating agent to attain optimal physical properties of YFeO3 nanomaterials obtained via sol-gel technique

In the present investigation, the YFeO3 (YFO) polycrystalline materials were synthesized via sol-gel route using four chelating agents, such as citric acid (CA), tartaric acid (TA), oxalic acid (OA), and sucrose (SR) for optimization of better chelating agent to acquire the better physical properties from YFO material. The synthesized samples were analyzed using different characterization techniques, such as X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermos-gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). XRD of all the samples shows a pure phase, however Rietveld refinement suggests that YFO exactly fits with orthorhombic perovskite structure with the Pmna space group. SEM analysis shows that the average particle size is ~ 900 nm, ~ 500 nm, ~ 120 nm, and ~ 190 nm for YFO (CA), YFO (TA), YFO (OA) and YFO (SR), respectively. The surface area of YFO (OA) and YFO (SR) is almost similar (8.34 m2/g), and these values are higher than that of YFO (CA) [2.69 m2/g], YFO (TA) [2.71 m2/g]. The highest magnetization (1.80 emu/g), and coercive field (54.83 Oe) was observed from the YFO (TA), when compared to that of YFO (CA), YFO (OA) and YFO (SR). The estimated optical bandgap using diffuse reflectance spectra is closed to that of literature reported values. From this investigation, we conclude that TA is a better chelating agent for the preparation of YFO samples to realize optimal results.