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Weak Ferroelectricity and Leakage Current Behavior of Multiferroic CoCr2O4 Nanomaterials

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Abstract

Multiferroic CoCr2O4 is synthesized by low-temperature sol-gel auto combustion technique. High energy synchrotron x-ray diffraction pattern confirms the single-phase cubic structure with space group Fd3m. Average crystallite size (17.91 nm) and negative micro-strain (9.86 × 10−4) are estimated by Williamson–Hall (W-H) plot. FTIR confirms the formation of spinel metal oxide-based cobalt chromites. The strong decrease in ε′ and tan δ at higher frequency can be interpreted by Maxwell-Wagner-type interfacial polarization. Weak ferroelectricity is mainly attributed to the partial reversal of polarization. J-E characteristic reveals the Ohmic (I–V) and Child’s square law (I–V2) behavior observed in CoCr2O4 nanomaterials with slope value ~ 1.04 and ~ 1.6, respectively. The conduction process for the leakage current density is interpreted using the space-charge limited current (SCLC) mechanism.

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Acknowledgements

Authors acknowledge fruitful discussion with Dr. V. Ganesan and Dr. D. M. Phase of UGC-DAE-CSR, Indore. Thanks to Prof. Dr. Pratibha Sharma, School of Chemical Science, Indore, for providing the FTIR (Fourier transform infrared radiation) facility. Technical support from Mr. Vinay K Ahire, UGC-DAE-CSR, Indore, is also gratefully acknowledged.

Funding

Facilities and financial assistance was received from UGC-DAE CSR, as an institute (Grant No.: CSRIC/BL-22/CRS-119-2014/269).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science Laboratory, School of Physics, Vigyan Bhawan, Devi Ahilya University, Khandwa Road Campus, Indore, 452001, India

    Pankaj Choudhary, P. Saxena, A. Yadav, V. N. Rai, M. D. Varshney & A. Mishra

  2. Department of Physics, Medi-Caps University, Pigdamber, Indore, 453331, India

    A. Yadav

  3. Indus Synchrotron Utilization Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, 452013, India

    A. K. Sinha

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  1. Pankaj Choudhary
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  2. P. Saxena
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Correspondence to Pankaj Choudhary.

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Choudhary, P., Saxena, P., Yadav, A. et al. Weak Ferroelectricity and Leakage Current Behavior of Multiferroic CoCr2O4 Nanomaterials. J Supercond Nov Magn 32, 2639–2645 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10948-019-5001-z

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