Enhanced Structural and Optical Properties of Pr3+Substituted Gadolinium Garnet Ferrite for Optical Devices Application

Praseodymium Pr3+doped gadolinium iron garnet (PrxGd3-xFe5O12 for x = 0.5,1.0 and 1.5) was synthesized by adopting sol—gel auto-combustion process. The structural properties of the Pr3+ substituted gadolinium iron garnet (GdIG) were examined with X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern. It has been observed that with variation of Pr3+ content from x = 0.5 to 1.5, the crystallite size value varies from 52 to 41 nm. The value of lattice constant, microstrain, and dislocation density varies with Pr3+ substitution. The obtained micrographs from the field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) explain about the morphological changes in samples. It has been observed that with an increase in Pr3+ content, agglomeration of the grains occurs. The average grain size calculated from micrographs lies between 0.27 µm to 0.401 µm. The calculated band gap from Ultraviolet—visible spectroscopy also varies with increases in Pr3+ content. The band gap of the samples lies in the insulator materials region, i.e., between 4.5 eV- 4.7 eV. From fluorescence spectroscopy, it has been found that the prepared garnet ferrites emit emission in red light region, i.e., at 650 nm. This suggests the use of materials in red LEDs. It has been found that emission spectra vary with Pr3+ substitution in GdIG which means such materials are good candidate to be used in optical devices.