LAUSR

Abstract Single-crystalline YFeO 3 nanoparticles with orthorhombic perovskite structure were synthesized via L α -alanine assisted combustion approach. The effect of sintering temperature on the lattice and distortion parameters of the YFeO 3 was discussed. The increase of the sintering temperature increased the lattice parameters and crystallite size, while decreased spontaneous strain, cell distortion, orthorhombic distortion and global instability factors. The sintering temperature did not show any significant effect of the atomic percentage of the elemental compositions of the YFeO 3 , where the powders showed excellent stoichiometry preserving the Y:Fe ratio (1:1). SEM micrographs showed that the YFeO 3 powders exhibited quasi-rectangular shape. The magnetic properties showed an improvement of the remnant magnetization and coercivity with increasing the sintering temperature, owing to the decrease of distortion of orthorhombic perovskite structure. The diffuse reflectance UV–vis spectrophotometer was employed to investigate the optical behavior and band gap of the sintered YFeO 3 powders at different temperatures. It was noticed that the reflectance bands are blue shifted and the optical band gap is decreased from 2.02 to 1.44 eV. This will gave rise to the possibility to use the developed YFeO 3 orthoferrites as magnetic recoverable catalyst.