Optical bandgap and ferroelectric studies of Pb0.8−y La y Co0.2TiO3 (y = 0.2 to 0.8) synthesized by microwave irradiation processed sol-gel technique

N Suresh Kumar, R Padma Suvarna, Chandra Babu Naidu K, S Ramesh, K Srinivas and D Baba Basha

Abstract

The Pb_0.8-y La _y Co_0.2TiO₃ (y = 0.2 to 0.8) (PLCT) nanoparticles were prepared via the microwave irradiation processed sol-gel method. The well-defined nanofibers were observed in the case of y = 0.8 (lead free content) using morphological analysis and might be expected for drug delivery applications. In addition, the UV-visible spectra attributed the narrow and wide optical bandgap energies (E _op) for y = 0.2–0.6 (~1.48–1.54 eV) and y = 0.8 (~3.44 eV). Therefore, these nanoparticles can reveal full extent applications in optoelectronic devices, photocatalytic and sensor based applications. The P-E loops showed well-defined hysteresis nature ensuring the ferroelectric nature as well as distortion into a banana shape.