Evolution of microstructure, defect, optoelectronic and magnetic properties of Cu1-xCaxFeO2 ceramics

Abstract Microstructures, defect characteristics, optoelectronic, and magnetic properties of polycrystalline delafossite Cu1-xCaxFeO2 (x = 0.00 - 0.08) samples have been systemically investigated. Our investigation results distinctly show that divalent Ca2+ ions can successfully substitute partial Cu+ ions and prompt the grain size and induce the partial Fe3+ valence variation to Fe2+. The positron annihilation lifetime spectra signifies that the cation vacancy clusters exist in all samples, the size and concentration of vacancy defects are redistributed with increasing Ca2+ ions content, while the overall defect environment of CuFeO2 system is not changed. The Hall-effect measurement results indicate the transition of semiconductor type from p-type to n-type. The UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy results indicate that the calculated band gap of the prepared samples is estimated to be 3.42 - 3.58 eV, indicating the series can be applied to the transparent conductive oxide materials. The magnetic measurements reveal that the transition temperature TN1 and TN2 are independent of Ca2+ content x, while the coexistence of antiferromagnetism and weak ferromagnetism for all the doped samples are observed. A moderate Ca2+ content, i.e. x = 0.02, can distinctly promote weak ferromagnetism. The above internal mechanism is probably relevant to the evolution of lattice structure and defect characteristics caused by Ca2+ ions doping.