Phase formation, Crystal Lattice and Microstructure Studies of sol-gel derived Pb(Ti,Fe)O$_{3}$*

It has recently been suggested[1] that Fe-substituted PbTiO$_{3}$ can exhibit magnetoelectric multiferroic behavior. With an intent to examine whether Fe can fully substitute the lattice in Pb(Ti,Fe)O$_{3 }$and to study its effect on crystal structure, we have synthesized highly phase pure nanopowders from citric acid metal ion chelate complexes stabilized by glycerol in a sol gel. Using variety of probes, we demonstrate that Fe can substitute Ti up to at least 0.5 atoms per formula unit of Pb(Ti,Fe)O$_{3}$. Rietveld refinement of XRD data, from both laboratory and synchrotron sources, demonstrates that crystal structure of Fe substituted phases can be derived from the parent orthorhombic PbTiO$_{3}$ phase. Increasing concentration of Fe up to x=0.3 results in drastic change in lattice parameters and decrease in orthorhombic distortion. These results are supported by detailed studies of XRD, TEM and XAFS. \\[3pt] [1] Palkar et al, Appl. Phys. Lett. 90(2007)172901.