Tunable optical bandgap of chromium doped Pr0.5Sr0.5MnO3 system

Abstract

Chromium doped Pr_0.5Sr_0.5Mn_1-xCr_xO₃ (x= 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) system were synthesized by sol-gel method. The X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the formation of single-phase orthorhombic structure (Pnma space group). The crystallite size was observed to vary from 26.12169 nm to 33.19551 nm with Cr doping concentration. The dislocation density was also observed to varied from 0.9074 x 10^-3 to 1.4655 x 10^-3nm^-2 with change in Cr doping concentration. The micro strain was observed to increase from 36.8395 x 10^-4 to 46.8197 x 10^-4 with change in Cr doping concentration. There was no evidence of characteristic absorbance peaks for all the synthesized samples. The optical energy band gap was calculated using Kubelka–Munk equation based on Tauc’s plot and observed in the range 0.52 to 1.12 eV.