One-step hydrothermal synthesis, characterization and magnetic properties of orthorhombic PrCrO3 cubic particles

Orthorhombic PrCrO3 cubic particles were synthesized by a simple and facile one-step hydrothermal method of processing temperature 280 °C for 7 days. The products prepared in this paper have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The magnetic properties of the final sample are also studied. The XRD pattern shows the pure orthorhombic phase for PrCrO3 particles, the XPS and FTIR results further demonstrate the purity and composition of the product. FESEM images show cubic morphology for the PrCrO3 particles. The possible growth mechanism for PrCrO3 cubic particles is proposed. Through the investigation of magnetic properties, it can be seen that the orthorhombic PrCrO3 cubic particles exhibit behaviors of magnetic transition and negative magnetization. The Néel temperature is about 232 K and the magnetic hysteresis loop under 4 K shows that the coercivity (HC) and remanence (Mr) is about 1728 Oe and 4.88 emu/g, respectively.