Insight into Structural and Optical Properties of Pristine and Sr2+ Doped La2NiMnO6

Double perovskites oxide (DPO) multiferroics La2-xSrxNiMnO6(x=0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6) are synthesized by sol-gel technique. The structural, optical and electrical (both DC and AC) properties of La2-xSrxNiMnO6 have been investigated by XRD and FTIR spectroscopy and two-probe resistivity and dielectric measurements as a function of temperature, respectively. The effect of doping of Strontium at A-site in double perovskites is discussed. XRD has revealed the formation of monoclinic structure of La2-xSrxNiMnO6 with space group P21 / n for x=0.0 and P21 for x=0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6. The average crystallite size has been calculated to be in the range 31 to 46 nm as determined by Debye Scherrer equation. Infrared active optical phonons observed from reflectivity spectra have been analysed fitting the theoretical oscillators using Lorentz oscillator model. We have observed several well-resolved phonon modes in La2-xSrxNiMnO6 with increasing dopant concentration. Activation energy calculated using Arrhenius Plot is in the range of 0.31 to 0.18 eV, confirming the semiconducting nature of all samples. The dielectric constant and tangent loss as a function of temperature and frequency are also discussed for these multiferroics.