Dielectric and magnetic properties of InCr1−xTixO3+x/2 (x = 3/4, 5/7 and 2/3) solid solution

Single-phase samples of InCr1−xTixO3+x/2 with x = 3/4, 5/7 and 2/3 compositions were synthesized by the solid-state reaction method, and optical, dielectric and magnetic properties were explored for the first time. Crystal structure analysis showed a complete Cr3+/Ti4+ solubility, and the monoclinic crystal structure was successfully characterized. The optical bandgap was obtained by both Kubelka–Munk function and Tauc plot method. The Cr3+/Ti4+ composition has a little effect in the direct bandgap taking values of 2.09 eV for x = 3/4 and 1.97 eV for x = 2/3, respectively. We found that the permittivity shows a peak strongly dependent on the frequency, which is typical of relaxor behavior. In addition, the relaxor peak is dependent on the Cr3+/Ti4+ composition. The AC conductivity analysis showed that main charge carriers to participate in the electric conductivity are associated with small polarons with Eact ~ 0.40 eV. Diluted magnetic or paramagnetic behavior was found in the magnetization studies. Accordingly, we found that the compositional disordered Cr3+/Ti4+ cations randomly distributed among equivalent sites into Cr/Ti–O layer explain both the dielectric relaxor and magnetic features.