Structural, dielectric and electrical studies of MgAl_2−2xY_2xO₄ (x = 0.00–0.05) cubic spinel nano aluminate

Investigations were carried out on a series of MgAl_2-2xY_2xO₄ (x = 0.00–0.05) nanoparticles prepared in steps of 0.01 by chemical co-precipitation method to study the effect of yttrium substitution at aluminum site on the structural, dielectirc and electrical properties. The single phase cubic spinel structure of all the samples was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) study shows two strong absorption bands in the frequency range 400–800 cm⁻¹, on the tetrahedral and octahedral sites respectively. Elemental analysis by Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) shows that samples are stoichiometric. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study reveals surface morphology of nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study shows the individual nanoparticles size and validates the nanocrystalline nature of the samples. The variation of dielectric permittivity at room temperature as a function of frequency (1 KHz to 1 MHz) suggests the dielectric dispersion due to Maxwell-Wagner Interfacial Polarization. AC conductivity study reveals that the conduction is due to small polaron hopping. The electrical modulus analysis shows that nanocrystalline MgAl_2−2xY_2xO₄ system exhibits non Debye type relaxation. The dc resistivity was found to increase with increase in yttrium content.