The influence of chromium substitution on crystal structure and shift of Néel transition in GdFe1−xCrxO3 mixed oxides

The gadolinium ferrochromite (GdFe1−xCrxO3) was used as a case study of influence of chromium substitution on the perovskite structure in the entire composition range. By exploiting thermal analysis techniques (dilatometry, differential thermal analysis) the influence of chromium was investigated in the context of thermal stability of the canted antiferromagnetic ordering. It was found that the higher the chromium concentration was, the more the Neel temperature decreased, e.g., substitution of 26 % of iron atoms corresponded to a depression of about 60 K with respect to undoped gadolinium ferrite. For higher chromium concentrations the mixed gadolinium ferrochromite was paramagnetic at room temperature. Additional information on the crystal structure and, qualitatively, on the magnetic ordering as well was derived from the results of X-ray diffraction and Mossbauer spectroscopy measurements. For chromium content higher than 10 % the gadolinium ferrochromite may be regarded as a solid solution. For lower concentrations, however, a possible formation of clusters with different Fe/Cr ratio occurs as suggested by Mossbauer spectra.