Structural and optical properties of gadolinium doped barium titanate nano-crystal for multifunctional nanodevices

Barium titanate has been the subject of extensive research due to its interesting electronic, optical, and ferroelectric properties, and its potential for use in various technological applications. In present work, the effects of gadolinium-doping (0.00–0.04 mol%) on structural and optical properties of Barium Titanate has been investigated. Structural information including lattice parameters, volume of unit cell, crystalline size and density, and typical microstrain size is examined from the x-ray diffraction data using the Rietveld refinement method. The lattice parameters of crystal increased (a= 3.9943 Å to 3.9975 Å, c= 4.0326 Å to 4.0381 Å) with increase in Gd-doping concentration. Also, an increase in strain from 2.93 × 10−3 to 3.08 × 10−3 is observed. Energy Dispersive X-ray technique is identified the doping of Gd. The optical properties has been analyzed using UV–Vis spectroscopy, the direct and indirect band gaps of the samples are estimated in the range of 4.1 eV–3.62 eV. These results imply the aptness of as-synthesized composites for applications in the fabrication of multifunctional nanodevices.